The Bourbon County Commissioners received the 2024 audit report for the county from Emily Frank of Jarred, Gilmore & Phillips.
Bourbon County has chosen to follow the Kansas Regulatory Basis of Accounting instead of General Accounting Principles and received an “unmodified opinion,” which means the audit was clean. The county had no cash or budget violations in the 2024 audit.
The county started 2024 with $4,149,000 of unencumbered cash. Total receipts for the county in 2024 were $17,949,000, and expenditures were $18,414,000, resulting in an ending unencumbered cash balance of $3,686,000.
Frank gave the commissioners information to help with budget creation for 2026.
She recommended that the general fund have at least 90 days’ cash on hand to be safe. “But a little bit extra would be better,” she said.
“The last two years you guys have had some pretty big decreases in your general fund,” she said, $120,000 in 2024 and $167,000 in 2023. She said that the commission will need to find ways to increase income and decrease spending to prepare for emergencies, as they go through the process of creating the 2026 county budget.
The Public Safety fund also needs watching, she said. It was at an unencumbered cash balance of $268 at the end of 2024. “This fund probably is going to need some help over the next couple of years to kinda get to a little bit more comfortable position,” said Frank. The Public Safety fund was supplemented with transfers from the general fund in 2024.
Road and Bridge also had a low cash balance of $12,000.
In 2024, several funds were amended, including Road and Bridge, Bridge and Culvert, Appraiser, Election, Employee Benefit, Landfill, and the Emergency Service Sales Tax Fund.
County bonds and lease debts total $3,824,000, and the county paid $235,000 in interest in 2024.
Executive Session for personnel matters of individual, non-elected personnel resulted in a vote to approve a deviation from policy to allow the public works director to work HR, as explained within the written documentation for this one occurrence.
Old Business
Juvenile Detention
Commissioner David Beerbower moved to cancel the county’s membership with the Gerard Juvenile Detention Center and adopt juvenile detention with Johnson County on a case-by-case basis.
Commissioner Mika Milburn asked if the county attorney had weighed in on the contract.
The item was tabled until next week, when the county attorney’s opinion can be given.
District 4&5 Term Limits
County Clerk Susan Walker told the commission that they need to pass a resolution regarding the changeover from 3 to 5 commissioner districts. One of the new district commissioners will serve a one-year term, and the other a three-year term. This is so that in an election cycle, either 2 or 3 of the commission seats will be up for re-election, but no more.
Milburn, who currently represents District 3 will be representing District 5 after being re-elected. This means that District 3’s seat will be vacated and require an appointment at the beginning of 2026.
Commissioner Samuel Tran said that switching out people too quickly causes a loss of historical knowledge. The commission has been in turmoil lately. Tran wants to keep at least one person in for a longer term to build continuity.
Tran made motion that district 5 commissioner will serve a three year term and district 4 will serve a one year term.
Both the candidate for new districts 4 and 5 are running unopposed.
The commission approved Tran’s motion as resolution 2125, Milburn abstaining.
SEK Mental Health Resolution and Letter of Support
Resolution 2225 will repeal the old resolution funding SEK Mental Health and have the commission sign a letter of support for SEK Mental Health. The resolution passed.
Courthouse Repairs
Tran looked over repair recommendations and saw a lot of maintenance that had fallen through the cracks with a price tag of more than $1 million.
He thinks the number may be high and wants a much more detailed proposal so the commission can verify the numbers and make better decisions.
“It’s ultimately by job to be a steward of your money,” Tran told the audience.
“Even if the county could or would fund this amount, doing so without a line-item bid is not recommended,” he said. He also said the county should have an on-site project manager for the work that needs to be done. Tran also wants to get input from the people who use the building.
“We need to break this down. We need small bites,” he said.
Tran expressed the need to formalize how the county procures goods, services, and equipment.
Milburn moved to give Tran the authority to go through the building with a hand-picked team of volunteers to see what’s needed to care for the county buildings to report back to the commission on Aug. 4. The motion was approved.