Included in the Proposed 2017 Budget for Publication, the Geary County Commission included a pay raise for county employees.

County Commission Chair Florence Whitebread said this was a necessarty adaptation.

“Right now we have put in a two percent raise increase and we just have to do that – we’re losing employees to private individuals because they can pay more than we can,” said Whitebread.

This pay raise may come as a surprise for county residents after the new of the proposed property tax levy for 2017 increase of 6.126 mills.

If the 6 mill hike is approved this would be consecutive property tax levy raises for 3 years; in 2015 it was approximately 8 mills, in 2016 it was 6 mills and the proposed amount for 2017 is 6 mills.

There will be a public hearing on the proposed budget on August 29th; after that the county commission will consider final approval of the proposed 2017 budget.