Lyon County Commissioners are still in the early stages of the 2027 budgeting cycle and already, the list of appropriation requests has surpassed $1 million.
Commissioners convened their second budget study session Wednesday morning, where they received the following appropriation requests, nearly all of which were increases from the previous year:
*Emporia Main Street: $50,000 up from $40,000 in 2026
*SOS Inc: $32,000 up from just over $29,000 in 2026
*Lyon County Extension: $385,000 up from $380,000 in 2026
*Street Cats Club: $100,000, first time requesting funds.
*Lyon County Clerk Amie Jones: $317,711, up from just over $315,000 in 2026
*Lyon County Election Office: $461,784 up from $456,953 in 2026
*Lyon County Treasurer: $430,998 up from $424,998 in 2026.
Coupled with requests from the prior week, the total in appropriations is just over $1.6 million, with more requests still to come in the next few weeks. Following last week’s start to the budgeting cycle, commissioners had stated their desire to see requests stay as flat as possible, with commissioner Chris Bartel telling KVOE News Thursday that the commission had made it clear they did not want requests to come in higher than the prior year, except for a two percent cost-of-living raise for employees.
With that in mind, Bartel says agencies have “held the line well” on that front thus far.
Though it is still very early in the process, KVOE News did ask Bartel his thoughts on the possibility of keeping the mill levy flat for the upcoming fiscal year, to which he stated it is “theoretically” possible, but there are still some uncertainties the county will have to navigate that won’t become clearer until later this year.
County commissioners will be convening for their regular action meeting Thursday at 9 am inside the Lyon County Courthouse Commission Chambers.
