Eudora school board set to vote Thursday on exceeding revenue neutral tax rate, adopting 2026-27 budget
Neither the proposed mill levy nor the revenue neutral rate it would exceed appears in any of the three agendas.
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Sign up freeEudora USD 491's school board will take public testimony Thursday, Sept. 10, before voting on a resolution to levy property taxes above the state's revenue neutral rate to finance its 2026-27 budget.
The Revenue Neutral Tax Rate Hearing is set for 6 p.m. at the West Resource Center Board of Education Room, 1310 Winchester Rd., with Resolution 26-11 on the agenda for adoption. The resolution invokes K.S.A. 79-2988, the state law requiring that a levy exceeding the revenue neutral rate — the rate that would raise the same amount of property tax revenue as the previous year — be authorized by resolution. The resolution's text is written in advance to state that the board, having heard testimony, still finds it necessary to exceed the revenue neutral rate.
A separate budget hearing is scheduled to follow at 6:15 p.m.; the agenda says the board will review the highlights of the published budget and then hear public comment.
The regular meeting is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. Item 8.01 is Resolution 26-12, authorizing a local option budget — the share of a district's general fund budget it may raise locally on top of state aid — of 33% for the 2026-2027 school year. Item 8.02 is adoption of the 2026-2027 budget.
Earlier in 2026, the district was reported to be facing a budget deficit and weighing cost savings through attrition. The three agendas neither confirm nor quantify that gap, and none of them says why the levy needs to exceed the revenue neutral rate.
The board will take a single vote on its consent agenda, which includes the August payroll report of $908,076.08, with $199,593.34 in contributions for state retirement, Social Security, Medicare and insurance benefits; the Eudora-DeSoto Education Center memorandum of understanding for 2026-2027; and permission for the superintendent to advertise and hire for all positions from Sept. 10 to Oct. 8.
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