By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The world moved into a new year on Thursday, but not before Barton County Administrator Matt Patzner delivered some good news to the board of commissioners Tuesday morning. Before the regular weekly meeting, the county held a special budget amendment meeting to handle more than $2.6 million in unanticipated revenue from 2025. The revenue is unrelated to ad valorem, or property taxes.
“Amending the general fund will increase budget authority by $2,690,275 to allow for a transfer of unanticipated revenue into reserve funds for future projects, if that’s deemed practical,” Patzner said. “A big piece of that $2.6 million is the sale of tax credits earlier this year.”
In February, the county announced it had received approximately 93 cents on the dollar for tax credits related to the HVAC Renovation Project at the courthouse. The total project ended up costing $5.182 million, but with the tax credits, came in $358,000 under the original bid of $4.182 million. In a brief back-and-forth with Commissioner Shawn Hutchinson Tuesday morning, Patzner said the budget amendment does not mean a raise in taxes, nor does it mean the county is obligated to spend additional funds.
“Essentially, we took in more revenue than we planned on taking in for 2025,” he said. “This is basically just raising the budget authority to meet what we actually took in, so it gives us the option, when it comes to transfer time, do we want to make the transfer, do we want to keep it in cash carry forward? Usually, it’s somewhere in between there.”
Tuesday’s budget hearing also involved $275,600 in the road and bridge fund, which can be used to purchase aggregate and other consumable goods, as well as for future road overlay projects. The amendment also include $660 in the special alcohol fund.
Commissioner Barb Esfeld explained it can be difficult to know how much money is coming in based on how many people pay or do not pay their taxes, as well as the various unforeseen circumstances a large entity may encounter over the course of a year. County Counselor Patrick Hoffman said the amendments are necessary and not uncommon.
“Accountants, every year, you bring them your statements and they tell you what you did in the past,” he said. “When Matt makes a budget, he has to do that in reverse, except he has to decide what’s going to happen in the future. Obviously, that’s really impossible to know what we’re going to do. He’s kind of like a future accountant.”