By Rose Gruenbacher

Riley County commissioners on Monday considered a 2026 budget which would create a 10% increase in property taxes for the average homeowner.

The proposed county mill rate is 39.981, an increase of almost 2 mills from 2025.

A mill is $1 in taxes for every $1,000 in assessed, taxable property value.

A homeowner who paid $436.34 in property tax on a $100,000 home in 2025 would pay $481.68 on a home now worth $105,000 in 2026, using the county’s 5% average property tax increase for existing single-family homes. That’s an increase of $45.34, or 10.4%.

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By Rose Gruenbacher

Riley County commissioners on Thursday said meetings with the city are pointless if county commissioners are not allowed to ask questions or participate in discussions.

Commission member John Ford said he disagrees with the structure of the joint county and city meetings, calling the current system for updates “pointless.”

“If we have something of interest or a challenge to discuss, I’m good with that, but just to talk about what’s going on … I can email certain city people and they’re usually pretty good about answering. I don’t need a 4 o’clock middle-of-the-afternoon meeting to accomplish that.” Ford said.

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Four new members took their seats on the Riley County Law Enforcement Agency Board Tuesday.

County commissioners Greg McKinley and Kathryn Focke as well as Orville Maupin and Craig Beardsley were sworn into their positions at the police board’s first meeting of 2025, which took place on a Tuesday because of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.

Also, police board members reorganized their positions, unanimously re-electing city commissioner John Matta as chair and Focke as vice chair, replacing county John Ford in that role.

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