Kansas Local Government Reports
Local governments serve an important and diverse function in Kansas, and it is at this
level that Kansas’ citizens have their greatest interaction with their government.
Kansas has approximately 3,800 units of local government (5th highest in the nation)
with the services provided ranging from general purpose government (counties, cities,
or townships) to special purpose governments (i.e. cemetery district).
Of the 3,800 units of local government, Kansas has 105 counties, 625 cities,
approximately 300 school districts and approximately 1,200 townships.
The remaining 1,570 units are special districts such as ambulance districts,
cemetery districts, community colleges, fire districts, hospital districts, public water
supplies, recreation commissions, rural water districts, or watershed districts.
The range of powers exercised by local governments in Kansas also varies.
Counties and cities have ‘home rule’ authority which allow them greater flexibility
in determining their local affairs. Authority and powers for other local units of
government are generally limited to those expressed in state statute.
Most local units of government are subject to three primary laws regarding their
financial practices. Those laws are comprised of the Cash Basis Law (K.S.A. 10-1101 et
seq.), the Budget Law (K.S.A. 79-2925 et seq.) and the Municipal Audit Law
(K.S.A. 75-1117 et seq.).
As the name implies, the Cash Basis Law requires local units to generally operate
on a ‘cash basis’. Local units of government are limited in the manner and method
of acquiring debt.
The Municipal Budget Law requires local units of government to prepare an annual budget.
That budget is then subject to publication and public hearing requirements prior to
adoption. The adopted budget then serves as the appropriation authority for the
local unit of government and is the mechanism used to determine the mill levy
(property tax) rate.
The Municipal Audit Law provides certain thresholds that require local units of government
to have independent agreed upon procedures or audits performed.
The laws referenced above require the adopted budgets, agreed upon procedures, and
audits be filed with the State of Kansas. The Department of Administration has the
responsibility of acting as the depository of such documents and maintains a website
that allow the public to access of the documents. In addition, the Municipal Service’s
website also maintains the confirmation of state payments to counties and cities;
confirmation of state revolving loan fund balances, disbursements, and repayments;
and county property tax levy sheets.
The adopted budgets of Kansas local units of government are organized by budget year
and county. Once a county has been selected, all the budgets submitted for that county
will be displayed in the following order: 1-county, 2-cities, 3-townships,
4-recreation commission, 5-special districts
Prior to 2018, budgets were organized into five categories: counties, cities,
recreation commissions, townships, and other.
Municipal budgets are available dating back to the 2012 budget year.
Municipal Budgets | Kansas Department of Administration (ks.gov)
Please note that school district budgets are maintained separately through the Kansas State Department of Education website at: https://datacentral.ksde.org/budget.aspx
Local units of government in Kansas are subject to the
following thresholds to determine if they need to have agreed upon procedures or an
audit performed:
- All school districts are subject to an annual audit,
- Gross receipts, or general obligation bonds, or revenue bonds in
excess of $275,000, but not greater than $500,000 – agreed upon procedures
need to be performed as prescribed by the Kansas Municipal Auditing and
Accounting Guide (KMAAG).
- Gross receipts, or general obligations bonds, or revenue bonds in excess
of $500,000 – an audit needs to be performed. The audit to be performed shall
either conform to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) or be
prepared on the basis of cash receipts and disbursement as adjusted to show
compliance with the cash basis and budget laws of Kansas (a regulatory basis
audit – also referred to as a KMAAG audit).
Note that due to the non-uniform nature of the audit statute in its application to
cities, they have the option of waiving the agreed upon procedure or audit requirement
under their ‘home rule’ authority.
The audit reports are organized by fiscal year and by type which includes cities,
counties, hospital-medical, libraries, recreation commissions, rural water districts,
schools (unified school districts, community colleges, and municipal universities),
townships, and miscellaneous governmental units.
The audit reports are organized by fiscal year and by type which includes cities,
counties, hospital-medical, libraries, recreation commissions, rural water districts,
schools (unified school districts, community colleges, and municipal universities),
townships, and miscellaneous governmental units.
Electronic versions of audits dating back to 2009 are available. However, electronic
filing of audits was not required by statute until January 1, 2015. Electronic filing
prior to that date was voluntary.
Municipal Audits | Kansas Department of Administration (ks.gov)
State payments made to counties and cities can be accessed by calendar year. Payments
reported include tax distributions that are collected by the state on behalf of counties
and cities (i.e. alcohol tax, transit guest tax, sales and compensating use tax),
federal aid administered by a state agency, state aid, and counties/cities share of the
gas tax (special highway distribution).
Confirmation of payments to counties and cities are available dating back to calendar year 2010.
Office of Accounts and Reports - Kansas Department of Administration (ks.gov)
Budgets adopted by local units of government need to be submitted to the county clerk by
August 25th of each year. When the county clerk has final assessed valuations, they will
determine the mill levy (property tax) rate for each local unit of government and will use
this information to create property tax statements and an abstract for the Property
Valuation Division of the Kansas Department of Revenue. As part of this process, the county
clerks also prepare and submit the tax levy sheet which reports the assessed valuation and
property tax rate for the current and preceding tax year for each local unit of government
having the authority to tax (tax subdivision) in their respective county. That levy sheet
is then submitted to both the Kansas Department of Revenue and Municipal Services.
Municipal Services then places this information on its website. The tax levy sheets are
organized by county and budget year. The tax levy sheets for a particular year finances the
budget of the following year. For example, the 2018 levy finances the 2019 calendar year
budgets for Kansas local governments.
County tax levy sheets are available dating back to 2011 (for the 2012 budgets).
Access County Tax Levy Sheets
State Revolving Fund loan confirmations made by the Kansas Department of Health and
Environment to local units of government under the Public Water Supply Loan Fund and the
Water Pollution Control Revolving Loan Fund. Confirmations are listed by
local government unit, the amount of the loan agreement, project payments disbursed,
repayments made on the loans, and the outstanding principal balance of each loan.
In addition, the amount of loan repayments applied to principal, interest, and service
fees are also shown.
State Revolving Fund confirmations for both programs are available dating back to calendar year 2013.
State Revolving Fund | Kansas Department of Administration (ks.gov)