A quartet of increased requests was the latest asks to come before Lyon County Commissioners Thursday morning.
The Lyon County Extension Office, Lyon County Sheriff’s Office, SOS Inc. and Flint Hills Technical College all had their time in front of commissioners during their weekly action meeting Thursday. SOS is seeking a total of $29,700, a $200 increase from the prior year.
Other increases were substantially higher including Flint Hills Tech’s $230,000, a $130,000 uptick from the prior year. The college is seeking an increase to assist in several planned projects over the next year.
Meanwhile, Lyon County Extension is seeking $380,000, up $30,000 from 2024. Sheriff Jeff Cope submitted his budget which encompasses funds for law enforcement, the Lyon County Jail and Emergency Management.
The law enforcement budget comes to just over $4.482 million, a two percent increase from last year. The jail budget increased by 4.5 percent to just over $3.8 million while the Emergency Management budget rose by just under $14,000 for a total of $222,000.
Cope says more than 50 percent of the increase across all funds is due to a rise in jail medical expenses.
Following Thursday’s requests, Lyon County Controller Dan Williams announced the county’s valuation increased by 2.02 percent from 2024. This is a significantly lower increase from the past two years which were both just over seven percent.
Upon hearing this news Thursday, County Commission Chairman Rollie Martin spoke with KVOE News and stated his confidence in the county’s ability to fund all requests as presented is “lower” than it was before.
That being said, Martin tells KVOE News nothing is set in stone at this time and there is still a lot of discussion and information that needs to be had before the budget is finalized.
County Commissioners are set to receive their final budget requests of the 2025 cycle next week during their regular action meeting. The meeting will begin at 9 am inside of the Lyon County Courthouse Commission Chambers.
In separate business Thursday commissioners:
*Approved signing the Urban Area boundary approval resolution establishing Urban Area boundary lines.
*Approved a pair of requests from Lyon County Area Transportation Director Shane Brunner including a memorandum of understanding for an agreement with the East Central Kansas Coordinated Transit Council as a host agency for a Mobility Manager position. Commissioners also approved a quote from Safety Vision for the installation of security camera equipment totaling more than $13,500. Matching funds of $12,000 have been awarded by the state with the county’s total cost coming to just over $1,500 following reimbursement.
Brunner will join KVOE’s Newsmaker segement at 7:20 am Tuesday to provide an update on the agency.
