The Geary County Commission is proposing to raise the county property tax levy for 2017 by 6.126 mills.

The commission adopted the proposed 2017 budget for publication on Monday. On August 29 the governing body will conduct a public hearing and consider final approval of the spending plan.

Florence Whitebread, Geary County Commission Chair, pointed to rising social costs as a major factor in the need to increase the tax levy. “She noted the County’s jail population since the jail was funded one year ago has gone up, as one example. “It’s just these social costs that are running us up. We were talking about the animals at the animal shelter.” Whitebread noted 160 animals came into the shelter in the month of June, for example. “That’s a tremendous load. So many of our departments are seeing these big increases.”

The commission could choose to lower the tax levy before final approval but they cannot raise it further than the current proposed increase.

If the six mill increase is approved it would mean the county commission has raised the property tax levy approximately 20 mills over the course of the last three years.  Declining funding from the state is considered a key reason why that has been necessary.