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2026 Brown County budget approved

By Greg Bebermeyer

09/24/2025

Brown County Courthouse

( KNZA)--The Brown County Commission Monday approved a 2026 county budget of $17.2 million that contains a property tax levy about 4.2 mills above the revenue neutral rate.

The action came on a 2-1 vote, with Commissioner Bill Pollock casting the dissenting vote. Pollock was opposed to exceeding the revenue neutral rate.

The Commission had originally been looking at about a 9 mill increase before making more than $2.2 million in budget cuts.

Commission Chairman Lucas Heinen said finalization of the budget has been a long process

"I think we came up with something that's palatable as we could make it, put a lot of effort into doing this, took a lot of input, took a lot of heat. But I think long-term vision for the county, this is a good budget."

Commissioner Rich Lehmkuhl said he believes they had to raise the mill levy some.

"Raising it four mills is a lot easier than nine mills on people, but I also know that we got ourselves there by trying to be so frugal with money that we've got ourselves a cash problem trying to get ourselves out of it. It's hard to make that happen in one year. Nine mills would have helped us greatly. Four mills will get us on the right road if nothing major happens."

The budget contains an estimated tax rate of 40.339 mills, which is to generate nearly $9.3 million in tax revenue. That's nearly $956,000 in additional revenue than under this year's budget.

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