The Seward County Board of Equalization on Oct. 8 officially levied 2024-2025 taxes for the 2024-2025 tax year.
The board, which is comprised of the Seward County Board of Commissioners, has until Oct. 15 each year to officially levy the amounts requested by the county’s political subdivisions. Each taxpayer pays a total levy comprised of the levies for the city, village, school, or other taxing entity in which they live.
The village of Staplehurst did not submit a budget by the Sept. 30 deadline, but the board set a levy for the village based on the 2023-2024 levy. In recent years, there have been two instances when the village of Bee failed to submit a budget, and the rate was set based on the previous year’s amount.
However, the board determined that next year, villages will not be granted that privilege. Any village that does not submit a budget by the 2025 deadline will not be assigned a levy.
Seward County Commission Board Chair Misty Ahmic said the county is required to authorize levies based on a village’s submission of a budget, minutes from a budget hearing and another document.
By assigning the previous year’s levy, the county assures the village does have the income from the levy, but also maintains the village’s ability to obtain state funding.
The downside of that is the county commissioners are “dinged” on their annual audit for that action, Ahmic said.
She said the county is aware of changes in village board membership and clerk roles.
Villages will soon receive a letter from the county explaining the potential consequences of not submitting budget documents next year.
The levy is listed per $100 valuation. School districts are limited to no more than $1 per $100 valuation. The total 2024-2025 tax levies, including bond and special levies, approved, and each entity’s total tax requests rounded to the nearest dollar, are:
• Seward County, 27.2729 cents, $10,322,427
• Milford School District, 93.2289 cents, $7,750,000
• Seward School District, 77.0549 cents, $15,471,717
• Centennial School District, 51.4977 cents, $8,961,058
• Beaver Crossing, 44.1994 cents, $117,000
• Bee, 45.0000 cents, $76,520
• Cordova, 11.6287 cents, $11,000
• Garland, 45.0000 cents, $68,112
• Goehner, 29.0571 cents, $46,165
• Milford, 47.9912 cents, $777,074
• Pleasant Dale, 40.0000 cents, $71,116
• Seward, 29.9000 cents, $2,155,605
• Seward Airport, 3.5000 cents, $252,328
• Staplehurst, 29.9969 cents, $42,108
• Utica, 41.9222 cents, $287,044
• J Precinct Cemetery, 0.0783 cents, $1,680
• Pleasant Dale Cemetery, 0.0847 cents, $1,795
• Seward County Ag Society, 01.0568 cents, $400,000
• Seward Fire District, 0.37539 cents, $660,422
In other action, the board endorsed plans to upgrade 168th Road north of Adams Road from a minimum maintenance to a local road based on plans to make improvements on the road in the future to allow use by passenger or commercial vehicles.
