City of Salina, Kansas — Dashboard

Overview

Salina, the county seat of Saline County and the tenth-largest city in Kansas at roughly 46,000 residents, adopted a 2027 budget with total expenditures of $191,127,875 against a 2026 adopted budget of $190,943,832. The General Fund budget is $59,914,068 with an ending reserve of $20,136,936, and total projected fund balances at December 31, 2027 are $54,940,559. The single largest 2027 outlay is the FSAB Clean Up fund at $50,000,000, followed by Water/Wastewater at $29,686,871. Staffing is unchanged at 520 positions, with a 1.5% cost-of-living increase and a maximum 1.5% merit increase.

Source: City of Salina adopted budget 2027 (salina-ks.gov, PDF).

At a glance

Source: City of Salina adopted budget 2027, budget message and projections.

Budget walk

All-funds projection for 2027: beginning balances $108,185,194 plus revenues $137,883,240 minus expenditures $191,127,875 equals ending balances $54,940,559. General Fund: beginning $20,293,101 plus revenue $59,757,903 minus expenditures $59,914,068 equals ending $20,136,936 — the $20.1 million general fund reserve cited in the budget. Debt Service: beginning $3,883,547 plus revenue $8,592,577 minus expenditures $8,992,000 equals $3,484,124. FSAB Clean Up: beginning $64,401,020 plus revenue $2,300,000 minus expenditures $50,000,000 equals $16,701,020. Water/Wastewater: beginning $7,636,209 plus revenue $24,900,200 minus expenditures $29,686,871 equals $2,849,538.

Revenue sources, 2027 (by-year summary table; the detail sums exactly to $137,301,454 — see the $581,786 difference from the projection table's revenue total, disclosed in Sources & notes): property and motor vehicle taxes $18,210,545; sales and use taxes $32,340,000; franchise fees and other taxes $12,364,250; EMS fees $3,835,000; municipal court fees $910,000; other fees and charges $50,181,210; other revenues $7,342,000; interfund transactions $12,118,449. Property tax dollars funding the 2027 budget are $17.1 million, against $15.7 million for the 2025 budget. The city imposes a 1.25% sales tax (0.5% general purpose plus 0.75% special purpose), and the 0.75% sales tax is estimated to generate about $12.8 million in 2027. General Fund city sales and use tax revenue is projected at $8.5 million and county sales and use tax revenue at $10.9 million, each up 8% over 2025 actual collections. The 2026 mill levy of 28.568 mills comprised 22.469 mills for the General Fund and 6.099 mills for Debt Service; for 2027, 0.197 mills were reallocated from Debt Service to the General Fund.

Selected General Fund departments, adopted 2027 (these are the department budgets legibly captured here, not a complete General Fund breakdown — the department figures below sum to less than the $59,914,068 General Fund total, with the balance in departments not itemized on this page): Fire Department $13,849,212 (Administration $1,588,322; EMS $3,416,245; Suppression $8,330,662; Prevention $513,983); Public Works divisions $6,942,267 (Engineering $1,764,770; Streets $3,423,483; Traffic $1,280,302; Flood Control $473,712); Municipal Court $2,092,314; Risk Management $1,683,685; City Manager $1,053,199; Human Resources $974,900; City Commission $551,087; Legal Services $250,850.

Source: City of Salina adopted budget 2027, summary tables and department budgets.

Major funds

Budgeted expenditures and projected ending balances by fund, adopted 2027 (projection table; the expenditure column sums exactly to $191,127,875 and the walk reconciles for every fund shown):

Projected December 31, 2027 balances for the largest funds: General $20,136,936; FSAB Clean Up $16,701,020; Debt Service $3,484,124; Solid Waste $2,923,336; Water/Wastewater $2,849,538; Health Insurance $2,729,758; Sanitation $2,139,643; Special Gas Tax $881,802; Workers' Comp $850,387; Special Parks $667,329; Sales Tax Economic Development $590,716; Sales Tax Capital $431,039; TPEC $140,314; Tourism & Convention $138,260; Arts & Humanities $112,505; Central Garage $96,663; Golf $43,676; Neighborhood Park $19,845; BID #1 $3,434; Special Alcohol $234.

2027 capital projects listed in the budget message total $20,500,000: East Magnolia Bridge/Road $8,000,000; waterline improvements $4,000,000; 7 sanitation trucks $2,550,000; construction of East Crawford Road/Bridge $2,100,000; repairs to the river bank at Bill Burke $1,500,000; design of West Magnolia phases 2 and 3 $1,000,000; design of a C&D cell at the landfill $600,000; design of landfill cell #6 $600,000; wayfinding sign project $150,000. The Sales Tax Capital fund includes transfers of $7,450,000 for capital replacement and maintenance, and the Gas Tax fund budgets $1,500,000 for street maintenance in 2027. The Water/Wastewater budget includes a $2,000,000 transfer to the Water/Wastewater Capital Reserve Fund, $500,000 for vehicle replacements and $2,000,000 for system enhancements.

Debt: general-obligation bonds outstanding at December 31, 2025 totaled $75,770,000 (12.22% of assessed valuation; $1,644 per capita on a population of 46,094), against a debt limit of $179,378,162 (30% of the $597,927,207 assessed value including motor vehicles); bonds applicable to the limitation were $62,207,196. Revenue bonds outstanding at December 31, 2025 totaled $20,325,000 (special district sales tax $10,375,000 and $4,320,000, both due December 1, 2038; refunding improvements $5,630,000 due October 1, 2031). KDHE and KDOT revolving loans outstanding totaled $64,596,184 (KDHE 2917 water $18,333,526; KDHE 2049 sewer $35,021,282; KDHE 2629 water $3,879,913; KDHE 2997 water $3,396,472; KDHE 2957 water $3,174,629; KDHE 2050 sewer $790,362). Overlapping debt: Salina Airport Authority $32,960,000; Saline County $52,793,562 (75.05% share of $70,344,519); Unified School District No. 305 $81,245,017 (93.31% share of $87,070,000).

Source: City of Salina adopted budget 2027, projections, capital program and debt management.

Sources & notes

• Only source used: City of Salina adopted budget 2027 (salina-ks.gov; adopted by the Governing Body September 14, 2026; budget message September 1, 2026, Interim City Manager Jacob Wood). Read the budget (PDF).
• Sum checks: the all-funds projection walk ($108,185,194 + $137,883,240 − $191,127,875) equals $54,940,559, and the beginning, revenue, expenditure and ending columns of the projection table each sum exactly to those totals; the General Fund walk ($20,293,101 + $59,757,903 − $59,914,068) equals $20,136,936; the revenue-sources detail sums exactly to $137,301,454; the expenditures-by-fund column sums exactly to $191,127,875; Fire Department divisions ($1,588,322 + $3,416,245 + $8,330,662 + $513,983) equal $13,849,212; Public Works divisions ($1,764,770 + $3,423,483 + $1,280,302 + $473,712) equal $6,942,267; capital projects listed total $20,500,000; KDHE/KDOT loans sum to $64,596,184; revenue bonds ($10,375,000 + $4,320,000 + $5,630,000) equal $20,325,000. All verified by addition.
• Differences between the budget's own tables, disclosed: (1) the projection table's 2027 revenue total is $137,883,240 while the revenues-by-fund table totals $137,301,454 — a $581,786 difference sitting entirely in the General Fund line ($59,757,903 projected vs $59,176,117 by fund, consistent with transfers counted in the projection); this page reports both totals with their table labels and does not force them to agree; (2) the by-year summary's beginning fund balances ($130,422,810 for 2025, $118,843,045 for 2026) do not tie to the projection table's beginning total of $108,185,194, so this page uses the projection table, which reconciles internally, for the fund walk; (3) the 2025 expenditure column differs between tables ($133,696,212 in the by-year summary vs $135,500,546 in the expenditures-by-fund table, whose 2025 column is headed as a budget column), so no 2025 expenditure trend is asserted here.
• City palette: no verified City of Salina palette was on file, so this page uses the neutral Hometown Numbers dark-glass theme rather than a city color.

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