Over $2 million dollars is the reduction in the Geary County Assessed Property Valuation.

Comparing July 2016 with projections for July 2017 the reduction in property valuation and property tax levy impact is $2,388,320.

“The way that we levy taxes is based on property valuation, so the fact that we’re having a decrease in valuation is not advantageous to us,” said County Clerk Rebecca Bossemeyer. “It’s the Commission’s decision on how they handle the budget and whether or not the mil levy goes up or down, but it makes budgets more difficult if we don’t have the same amount of value that we’ve had in past years.”

Ben Bennett, County Commission Chairman, said that he could not offer any budget projections at this time but the budget process as a whole was moving along well.

“Our two goals are not to go over the tax lid, and to be able to reduce the mil levy or at least keep it level as to what it was last year,” said Bennett.

If the assessed property valuation for the County is down by over $2 million, then if the mil levy is kept “flat” there will be less property tax dollars available to fund programs.