Riley County commission certifies 2025 budget

The Riley County commission on Thursday unanimously certified a 2025 budget of more than $104 million and a mill levy of 37.943 mills, meaning property owners will see a slight decrease in their taxes.

This year’s mill levy is a 1.923-mill decrease from last year. A mill represents $1 in taxes for every $1,000 in assessed, taxable property value, so the owner of a $100,000 property who paid $458.69 in 2024 taxes would pay $458.16 on a home now valued at $105,000 in 2025, a .1% drop in county property taxes from 2024.

“The reality is, we’re really tax strapped here in Riley County,” county chairman John Ford said. “I think this puts us in a good spot. The bills are paid, we have good healthy reserves. It’s not a large reduction but given the times that we live in right now, I think it was appropriate. I feel good where we’re at for 2025.”

Commissioners last month decided not to exceed the revenue-neutral rate, which is the tax rate for the current tax year that will generate the same property tax revenue as levied the previous tax year using the current tax year’s assessed valuation.

However, Riley County Fire District No. 1’s budget will exceed the revenue-neutral rate in 2025 as its mill levy increases by 3.313 mills to a total of 8.050 mills.

The fire district is the only county entity to exceed the revenue-neutral rate, and commissioners on Thursday held a public hearing on the issue as state law requires. No one spoke at the hearing, and the commission adopted a resolution to exceed the revenue-neutral rate.