The FY 2026 proposed budget for Johnson County Government remains a work in progress and now heading into the homestretch.

County Manager Penny Postoak Ferguson presented the proposed budget to the Board of County Commissioners on May 15. The budget includes no mill levy increase in the Johnson County taxing district, no new county tax supported full-time equivalent employees and a strong focus on the county’s fundamental programs and services.

“As the county navigates revenue and expenditure challenges, our approach to the 2026 budget has been centered on the core fundamentals of programs, assets and our workforce,” said Postoak Ferguson. “We are committed to maintaining existing services, accounting for inflationary impacts on food, medical contracts and commodities. It is also essential to take care of our existing assets, such as buildings and infrastructure, by appropriately funding ongoing capital replacement schedules.”

The proposed budget of $1.90 billion is comprised of $1.39 billion in expenditures, representing an increase of 1.46% from the current budget expenditures ($1.37 billion), and $507.9 million in reserves. It proposes a Capital Improvement Program totaling $347.4 million.

Budget highlights include:

• $250,000 to provide more nutrition and utility assistance to some of our most vulnerable residents.
• One-time funding of $100,000 for eviction mediation and $200,000 for the landlord incentive program to address housing challenges.
• One-time uses of general fund reserves for items such as replacement of some public access AEDs, license agreements for fire stations with co-location of MED-ACT services and funding to pay for the 2026 gubernatorial election.

Since receiving the county manager’s budget proposal, the BOCC received department, agency and office presentations from May 22 through June 12 and had budget open houses from June 9-24 at five different locations. The maximum budget expenditure authority, including Board changes to the proposed FY 2026 budget, was set on June 26 for legal publication on approximately July 18.

The budget proposal includes a flat total mill levy of 24.125 mills. The proposed levies are 17.286 mills for the county, 3.816 mills for the Library and 3.023 mills for the Park and Recreation District.

The county forecasts a 6.12% assessed valuation increase after appeals. That is a lower increase from the 6.78% growth for 2025.

The public hearing on the proposed budget will take place at 6 p.m. Aug. 20 at the Olathe Conference Center, 10401 S. Ridgeview Rd. This will also serve as the Revenue Neutral Rate public hearing.

The BOCC is scheduled to adopt the final FY 2026 Budget resolution on Aug. 28 during its weekly business session. The meeting will start at 9:30 a.m. in the board’s hearing room located on the third floor of the Johnson County Administration Building, 111 S. Cherry St., in downtown Olathe.

Details about the county’s FY 2026 proposed budget, current and previous budgets and the budget process are available at jocogov.org/budget.

Johnson County’s Budget and Financial Planning Department and the web services team collaborated on creating a “budget guide” webpage for residents, where you can find all the high-level information about Johnson County’s budget process in one place, in an easy-to-understand format.

The guide links to related existing pages, as well as a newly developed resource: a property tax calculator, developed by AIMS. This will allow property owners to enter their address into the page and show how a change in mill levy would affect what they pay in property taxes.

The budget guide and the property tax calculator are accessible online at jocogov.org/budget-guide.