Great Bend Post
Jul 09, 2024

Great Bend Rec to exceed RNR, will collect more tax dollars

Posted Jul 09, 2024 2:35 AM

By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post

For the third straight year, the Great Bend Recreation Commission will collect more tax dollars than their previous budget. On Monday, the Rec Board approved the motion to exceed the Revenue Neutral Rate (RNR) for the 2025 budget, collecting approximately $72,000 more in taxes than this current year.

With a total mill levy at 9.75, the Rec has a general fund tax at eight mills and an employee benefit at 1.75 mills. Great Bend Rec Executive Director Chris Umphres said they will transfer general fund dollars to bolster the employee benefits.

"I recommend exceeding the RNR to get the full value," said Umphres. "With the addition of another staff member, I'd like to move some of our general fund to the employee benefit fund. Instead of the full eight mills for the general, we'd take a quarter of that and move it down to the employee benefit fund."

The Great Bend Rec anticipates collecting just under $2 million in taxes in the 2025 budget. Based on increased valuations, the Rec needed a mill levy of 9.25 to garner the same amount of tax dollars as they did in 2024. The board elected to exceed the RNR and keep the rate at 9.75 for the third straight year.

In the 2024 budget, the Rec collected an additional $227,000 in tax dollars due to increased valuations.    

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