Riley County appraiser: $4 billion in exemptions shifting tax burden to homeowners

Anna Buren, Riley County's appraiser, used the board's July 2 meeting to frame property-tax pressure as a structural issue rather than a local budget shortfall.

Buren said the county's appraised base is about $10 billion and that roughly $4 billion of that total is currently exempt from taxation. "We have this $10 billion dollar appraised, over $4 billion of that is exempt from taxation," she told the commissioners. She said those exemptions — from universities, hospitals, continuing-care communities and other entities — mean residential properties carry a disproportionate share of the tax burden.

She reported roughly 479 residential sales to date for 2026 and said reinspection work is underway (about 35% complete for residential reinspections, roughly 59% complete on farm home sites). Buren told commissioners that residential property makes up about 71% of taxes paid, and including farm-home sites pushes the figure closer to 75%.

Buren urged that legislative changes to exemption statutes are the more effective remedy, suggesting options such as payment-in-lieu arrangements or narrowed exemptions rather than placing the county in the position of substituting for state-level policy. Commissioners agreed the issue needs attention beyond the county's immediate fiscal decisions.

Next steps: commissioners asked for comparative data from other counties to better understand staffing and budget mixes and to inform future advocacy or legislative approaches.