By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

With no public comments, the public hearing for the 2019 draft budget for the city of Hays was closed and the budget then approved unanimously Thursday night by Hays city commissioners.

A short review of the highlights was presented by Assistant City Manager Jacob Wood who noted the $39,504,844 budget is balanced with no mill levy increase and includes a new pay plan for city employees.

“The assessed valuation is expected to decrease by a half percent,” Wood pointed out. “The value of one mill in 2019 is expected to be at $234,000, about $10,000 down from the previous year. But we will remain stable at 25 mills.”

“We’ve been at or below 25 mills for 12 of the last 13 years Hays is still the sixth lowest in Kansas and we are the lowest outside of Johnson County. We will continue with that trend,” said Wood. “This is a sustainable budget and we will continue to pay cash for most large projects.”

“I’d also like to point out the city’s finances is really relying on 18 mills of that 25 mills and that 6.7 mills goes to the Hays Public Library and the library employees fund,” Commissioner Ron Mellick added at the end of the meeting. “So that when somebody says the city is running on 25 mills, that is correct, but technically the city funds are received only from the 18 mills.”

Included in the budget is a $2 rate increase for solid waste customers. The last rate increase was 12 years ago in 2006, when the city moved to automated collection. Commissioners will address the rate increase in an upcoming agenda this year.

“We can discuss where that increase actually needs to be but for the purposes of budgeting two dollars is where we set it,” explained Wood.