Johnson County's property tax rate will hold steady after the Board of County Commissioners adopted a $1.378 billion operating budget for 2027 on Sept. 3.

The spending plan keeps the mill levy flat at 24.119 mills in the adopted budget, with a projected rate of 24.130 mills once property valuation appeals are finalized in October. Total authorized expenditures are down from 2026, and overall budget growth is limited to 0.37%.

The adoption concludes weeks of public input. Two budget open houses in June and a public hearing on Aug. 25 gave residents a chance to weigh in on the county's intent to exceed the revenue-neutral tax rate. The specific vote tally on the final adoption was not included in the county's announcement.

No new positions use tax dollars. Fifteen new staff members will be paid through non-tax revenue or internal reallocations: seven paramedics for MED-ACT, the county's ambulance service, to improve emergency response times, and eight front-line workers at Motor Vehicles offices to cut wait times.

The budget also funds an additional ambulance, replaces public-access defibrillators, continues the county's Eviction Mediation and Landlord Incentive programs, and extends a property tax rebate pilot that provided relief to 687 residents in 2026.

BOCC Chairman Mike Kelly said the budget reflects a deliberate choice to absorb rising costs rather than pass them to taxpayers. "Our 2027 budget is up only 0.37% from 2026, and total authorized expenditures are down from the 2026 budget," Kelly said in a county statement. "Against inflation of 3.4%, this reflects the Board's deliberate choice to absorb financial pressures instead of passing them on dollar for dollar."

County Manager Penny Postoak Ferguson credited county leadership and staff with closing a projected budget gap. The county said it enacted a hiring pause on vacant positions in January, identified new revenue sources and pursued cost savings to balance the books.

The $530 million in reserves meets the target needed to maintain Johnson County's AAA bond rating from all three major agencies. In early August, when the county announced it had retained that rating, Kelly called the designation "something that does not happen by accident."

The next milestone is October, when final property valuation numbers will confirm whether the mill levy lands at the projected 24.130 mills.