City of Douglass

09/04/2026

The Douglass City Council will meet on Wednesday, September 9, at 6:30 PM at City Hall.

Included on the Agenda is the Public Hearing and Consideration of:
👉The Resolution to Exceed the Revenue Neutral Rate for 2027
👉The Proposed 2027 Operating Budget.

View the Council Agenda: https://cityofdouglassks.community.diligentoneplatform.com/Portal/Default.aspx?fbclid=IwY2xjawUH3H9wZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMVd5S3Rhb0pTWVVpWkN1OGJzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeydm9l156Qnd16CAPuMTR-I0kwR0SbjfC2MaM_mKfVOV9Kkwp5VH1Jto5p2g_aem_Bo-_zKyIz6NnUrB30i3XCQ

Watch the meeting live on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/

09/04/2026

🌻 LOCAL GOVERNMENT BUDGETS: DID YOU KNOW?

How is your property tax calculated?

For a residential property in Kansas, the basic calculation starts with your home’s appraised value. The County Appraiser determines that value.

Residential property is then assessed at 11.5% of its appraised value to determine its assessed value.

From there:

Appraised Value × 11.5% = Assessed Value

Then:

Assessed Value × Total Mill Levy ÷ 1,000 = Property Tax

For example, if a home is appraised at $200,000:

$200,000 × 11.5% = $23,000 assessed value

IF the combined mill levy for all taxing entities is 172.252 mills:

$23,000 × 172.252 ÷ 1,000 = $3,962 approximately

That total mill levy is made up of the individual mill levies set by the different taxing entities we talked about in our last post.

💡 The important takeaway:
Your property tax bill is affected by both your property’s assessed value and the combined mill levies of the taxing entities serving your property.

This is a simplified example. Exemptions, special assessments, or other factors may affect an individual tax bill.

09/04/2026

🌻 LOCAL GOVERNMENT BUDGETS: DID YOU KNOW?

Your property tax bill supports more than just one local government.

Your tax dollars are distributed among several taxing entities that each set their own mill levy, including:

City of Douglass • Butler County • USD 396 • Douglass Township • Butler County Community College • Fire District #8 • State of Kansas • South Central Kansas Library District

So what has changed over the past five years?

Take a look at the graph below to see how each taxing entity’s mill levy has changed.

📊 A quick note about 2026 and 2027:

You may notice those years are not included in the graph.

2026 rates have been adopted, meaning the budgets and resulting mill levies have been officially approved. However, 2026 is the current budget year and is not yet a completed year.

2027 rates are still proposed and may change before the budgets are officially adopted.

For this graph, we’re showing completed years (2021–2025) so you can make a consistent year-to-year comparison.

09/03/2026

🌻 Local Government Budgets: Did You Know?

The City of Douglass has lowered its mill levy by approximately 6.6 mills over the past five years.

Property taxes help fund the services our community relies on, including roads, parks, utilities, public safety, and other City services. The City Council works to balance keeping the mill levy as low as possible while still providing needed services and maintaining City infrastructure.

For the 2027 budget, the proposed Douglass mill levy is 52.666 mills, which is about the same as the 2026 mill levy of 52.670 mills, even though costs have risen.

But there’s another important piece to understand: your property tax bill is affected by both the overall mill levy and the assessed value of your property. The overall mill levy is made up of levies from several taxing entities, not just the City mill levy. If your assessed value increases, your tax bill can increase even when the overall mill levy stays the same or goes down.

The Butler County Appraiser determines property values. If you disagree with the value assigned to your property, Kansas law provides opportunities to appeal the valuation through the County Appraiser’s office.

A change in the mill levy does not necessarily mean the same change in your individual property tax bill.

09/03/2026

🌻 Local Government Budgets: Did You Know?

Who decides how much you pay in property taxes? There are several steps, and several different local government officials involved.

1. County Appraiser
The County Appraiser determines the appraised value of your property. The assessed value used for property taxes is based on that value and the applicable assessment rate.

2. County Clerk
The County Clerk provides taxing entities with certified property valuation information for the budget process and calculates the Revenue Neutral Rate (RNR).

3. Local Governing Bodies
City Councils, School Boards, Township Boards, County Commissions, and other taxing entities adopt their budgets and determine the amount of property tax revenue needed to fund their services.

4. County Clerk
After the budgets and required hearings are completed, the County Clerk calculates the final mill levy (tax rate) for each taxing entity and certifies the tax roll.

5. County Treasurer
The County Treasurer uses the certified tax roll to bill and collect property taxes.

There are several different entities involved in the property tax process, and each has a different responsibility. Understanding who does what can help make property taxes, and the local budget process, a little easier to understand.

09/03/2026

City offices will be closed on Monday, September 7 in observance of Labor Day. For water-related emergencies, please contact City Hall at 316-747-2109 and follow the prompts.

09/02/2026

Frontier Days is coming up soon! Mark your calendars and have fun celebrating our community!

There will be lots of things going on, all day long! Be sure to come out and celebrate with our hometown, starting with the high school football game on Friday night.

09/02/2026

🌻 Local Government Budgets: Did You Know?

Fall is the time of year when local governments across Kansas adopt their budgets for the coming year.

Mayor Shirley and the City Council want to share some information about how local taxing entities develop their budgets and how those decisions affect taxpayers in Douglass.

Over the next 7 days, we’ll be sharing a series of posts titled “Local Government Budgets: Did You Know?”

We hope these posts help you better understand how your property taxes are determined, who receives your tax dollars, and how local governments make budget decisions.

📅 To get us started, here’s a look at some of the key dates in the Kansas budget process.

09/01/2026

The September 2026 Newsletter is Available at: https://share.sender.net/campaigns/gTx2/city-of-douglass-september-2026-newsletter

Sign up: Receive emails each month for Douglass news, events, and important updates. https://stats.sender.net/forms/dBBZ9k/view

Douglass Organizations: Submit your event or announcement to [email protected] by the 25th of the month (for the following month) or call 316-747-2109 for information.

09/01/2026

City employee Mike Frakes is celebrating 5 years with the City of Douglass this month! Thank you, Mike, for all that you do for the City of Douglass!