Officials from the City of Manhattan, Riley County and Pottawatomie County sat down Thursday to discuss budgetary challenges amid the newly adopted Senate Bill 13.
The legislation, passed this spring, is intended to increase transparency in property tax collections in the state. It requires all taxing entities to create budgets at a revenue-neutral rate (RNR), setting a tax rate for the current year which results in the same revenue as was collected the prior year. The RNR, as defined by the new law, is the mill levy at which an entity collects the same dollar amount of property taxes as the previous budget year. Any intent to exceed that rate requires additional public hearings and taxpayer notifications.
City Manager Ron Fehr spoke about some of the disadvantages of the new law.
There are some factors that complicate things, including the RCPD budget, which gets set prior to the city and counties approving their budgets.
There’s also the expense of sending out mailers to the electorate, a cost incurred by taxing entities. Riley County Clerk Rich Vargo says the legislature has not appropriated any money for this, and anticipates the county incurring those costs.
The city and the two counties have until July 20 to notify the County Clerk of intent to exceed the RNR and provide the clerk with a proposed tax rate. All three taxing entities typically set their budgets in September.
