KCK Chamber supports 3/8-cent public safety sales tax renewal

The Kansas City, Kansas, Chamber of Commerce announced today that its board of directors has voted to support renewal of the 3/8-cent public safety and neighborhood infrastructure sales tax.

“After recent presentations from Unified Government of Wyandotte County, Kansas City, Kansas Mayor-CEO David Alvey and County Administrator Doug Bach at both the Legislative Affairs Committee and the Chamber Board meeting regarding the importance of the renewal of the Public Safety and Neighborhoods Infrastructure Sales Tax, a survey of our Chamber membership reflected an overwhelming 92 percent voice of support for the sales tax renewal,” said Craig Gaffney, 2018 KCK Chamber board chair, in a news release. “Based on those results and Mayor Alvey and Administrator Bach’s presentations, our Chamber board unanimously approved supporting the renewal of the sales tax.”

“Given the recent significant increases in property valuations, not only in Wyandotte County but across the state of Kansas and the impact it will have on our Chamber members’ property taxes, our Chamber board thought it was appropriate to have significant discussion around the sales tax renewal,” Gaffney said in the news release. “It is our belief there is a real desire on Unified Government officials’ part to continue working to reduce the mill levy to lighten the impact of property tax increases and at the same time partner with our Chamber leadership to have a voice in Topeka on phasing in any significant property tax increases that occur across the state due to significant increases in property tax valuations.”

The 3/8-cent sales tax is used for such items as police department expenses, fire trucks, roads and sidewalks. The sales tax produces $10 million per year and originally was approved in 2010. The tax expires in 2020, and if approved this year, it would be in effect from 2020 through 2030.

Mayor Alvey and Administrator Doug Bach are supporting the renewal of the sales tax. The UG Commission voted unanimously on April 26 to put it on the primary election ballot. At the time, UG officials said a “yes” vote would not be an increase in taxes, since residents already are paying the 3/8-cent sales tax.

Mayor Alvey, in his State of the Unified Government speech on June 5, said he supported holding down property taxes. The UG administrator is scheduled to present his proposed budget, with a proposed property tax rate, on July 12. The UG Commission then may alter the budget, and a final vote to adopt the budget is scheduled to take place on July 30.

Voters will be asked to renew the 3/8-cent sales tax in the Aug. 7 primary election.

The UG has posted more sales tax information online at http://www.wycokck.org/SalesTax. More information about the Chamber is at www.KCKChamber.com.

Democratic candidates for Kansas governor debate in Wichita

Carl Brewer, Josh Svaty and Laura Kelly met for a debate in Wichita on Friday evening. (Photo by Stephan Bisaha, Kansas News Service, KMUW)

by Stephan Bisaha, Kansas News Service

The three top Democratic candidates for governor debated in Wichita on Friday evening.

Laura Kelly, Carl Brewer and Josh Svaty participated at the event held in The Lux apartment building and venue space in downtown Wichita.

The candidates spent much of the debate agreeing on issues, from expanding Medicaid to supporting legalizing marijuana in Kansas.

About halfway through the debate, Brewer said Kansas should look into requiring businesses that receive incentives from the state to provide equal pay for women and minorities.

“If you’re investing my dollars, are you doing it in a fair and equitable way where everyone has a fair opportunity to grow?” Brewer said. “We must go out and create an environment that’s welcoming to everyone.”

When the question of concealed carry came up, Kelly said that while she voted for constitutional carry in 2015, that law has now gone too far. Kelly said she has since worked to roll back what she called “loose ends” from the bill by voting to ban guns on school campuses and in public hospitals.

Svaty criticized Kelly for her initial vote.

“We lost common sense with Kansas gun laws when constitutional carry passed,” Svaty said. “We should have stopped this when we had the chance in 2015, and we needed Democrats that knew that then.”

One of the biggest cheers of the night came when Kelly responded to moderator Brett Harris’ question on how to make sure underrepresented groups, such as minorities and single women, have an equal opportunity to vote.

“Beat Kris Kobach,” Kelly said.

Stephan Bisaha reports on education for KMUW in Wichita and the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KMUW, Kansas Public Radio, KCUR and High Plains Public Radio covering health, education and politics. Follow him on Twitter @SteveBisaha. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to the original post.

See more at http://kcur.org/post/democratic-candidates-kansas-governor-debate-wichita

Kobach’s replica gun at Shawnee parade sparks criticism, city apology

On Saturday, Kris Kobach rode what he calls a “patriotic jeep” through the Old Shawnee Days parade with a machine gun replica mounted on top. (Photo from Kris Kobach’s Twitter page)

by Nicholas Telep, Kansas News Service

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is drawing national scrutiny after he appeared in the Old Shawnee Days parade in Johnson County on Saturday riding in a Jeep with a large machine gun replica mounted on it.

In a tweet after the parade, Kobach called the vehicle a “souped-up Jeep,” and posed with it. The gun appeared to be a .50 caliber machine gun. Kobach said the firearm was a replica.

The city of Shawnee quickly released a statement on Twitter, apologizing and saying the float “in no way” reflected the city’s values.

“Please know that the safety of our residents is always our highest priority, and we apologize if this made anyone feel unsafe or unsettled,” the statement said.

On Sunday, Kobach took to Twitter again to defend himself, calling the negative response to his gun display a “snowflake meltdown” and framing it as an attack on Second Amendment rights.

Chris Reeves, a member of the Democratic National Committee from Kansas, called the gun a “ridiculous weapon” and implied Kobach may have violated federal law by displaying it in public.

Jo Ella Hoye, head of the Kansas chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, told The Star that Kobach was “misguided.” Moms Demand Action also had a float in the parade.

A now-deleted tweet from the Kansas Division of Emergency Management read “Hey Kris, I think you are a bad guy with a gun. Also, maybe worse, you a dumb guy with a gun.”
The division later claimed on Twitter that its account had been hacked.

Nicolas Telep is KCUR’s morning news intern. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to the original post.
See more at http://kcur.org/post/kobachs-replica-gun-shawnee-parade-sparks-criticism-city-apology.