The Riley County Law Board will finalize its 2021 budget Friday during a special meeting ahead of its June 5 publication date.
Up for consideration is the removal of a .63 percent cost of living adjustment and merits for RCPD employees. While the police department previously made other cuts within its operating budget to provide a slight increase in those, some on the Law Board have argued that doing so sets a bad precedent to other city and county departments unable to provide such increases to their employees.
Manhattan and Riley County have to set the RCPD budget before they can finalize their own respective budgets for next year. Both are anticipating significant losses in terms of tax revenue attributed to shutdowns amid the ongoing coronarivus pandemic.
Even with the COLA and merits presented at earlier meetings, the total tax obligation in 2021 would have been zero according to RCPD Director Dennis Butler.
“So when I was asked to bring back a flat budget, my interpretation of that was no net increase to the taxpayers. That’s what we delivered,” he said.
That option remains on the table for consideration. The COLA increase would amount to about $99,000, while keeping the budget flat at $22,193,453.38.
Additionally, Law Board members will look at an option that removes the COLA, causing a .03 percent decrease in the tax obligation, amounting to approximately $7,500 less. That would present a total budget authority at $22,094,280.00.
A third option removes the COLA and merits and slashes the tax obligation to .65 percent or just over $143,000. That would present a total budget authority of $21,958,728.00.
The Law Board will meet at noon in the county commission chambers. The meeting is being live-streamed on the RCPD Facebook page.
