Category: Piper

The Unified Government Commission formally added a new fire station in Piper before unanimously approving the budget on Thursday, July 28.

Commissioner Mike Kane backed the change to have the UG formally put the $4 million funding for the fire station in the budget. UG officials said the project could cost in the $3 to $4 million range. It is expected to cost the UG about $260,000 to $300,000 a year if it is spread out over 20 years.

Commissioner Kane said Piper has grown from 1,328 households in 1990 to 3,790 households currently, not counting three apartment developments.

He said the Piper area is paying an annual property tax of $15.1 million. While there is an old fire station called a “pole barn” at 123rd and Leavenworth Road, it doesn’t have an ambulance there, he said. There is a paramedic on a fire truck. The closest ambulance is at 94th and State Avenue, he said, and could take as much as 10 minutes to get to some Piper locations

“At $15 million, we deserve a fire station out west, and we deserve it, not five or 10 years, but we deserve it now,” Commissioner Kane said.

While she didn’t offer an opinion on the way to finance it, Commissioner Melissa Bynum supported the idea of making a commitment in the budget to build the Piper fire station.

Commissioner Hal Walker was in support of the fire station and said he was concerned that sometimes past UG officials and commissioners have made commitments that have not been carried out in future years.

He said the UG has a commitment to provide fire and ambulance services to Piper. “Our obligation is not contingent upon us finding savings in some way,” he said. “Our obligation is there whether we save a dime.” He added he did hope the UG is able to save money on operations.

Commissioner Gayle Townsend had no doubt about the need for the fire station, but she had some questions about where the money would come from.

UG Administrator Doug Bach said the Piper fire station now will be under the capital maintenance improvement program category of the 2017 budget, and he moved it out of the uncommitted funding source of the Public Building Commission part of the budget. It will add a dedicated $4 million to city debt, and the UG will be obligated to fund the debt every year going forward, he said.

The other additions to the budget discussed in the Monday night meeting also were approved on Thursday night. The original $345.7 million budget contains some shoring up of the fund balances, a large blight reduction program, more road repair funds, new police vehicles, police body cameras, four new fire apparatus, two new ambulances, more spending on parks, a 2 percent raise for UG employees, and an extra $250,000 for the Wyandot Mental Health center. There was also a 2-mill property tax reduction in the budget.

Perhaps the most notable part of the budget process this year was an anticipated extra 12 mills to be received from the early payoff of the sales tax revenue (STAR) bonds at Village West, equal to about $12 million. These funds shift a small amount of the UG’s revenue stream to sales taxes rather than solely relying on property tax, although property tax is still the largest source of revenue. Mayor Mark Holland held a series of community meetings where he asked residents what their priorities were for spending the funds from the STAR bonds, and also a community survey was taken that also contained priority information. The UG also anticipates getting a $1.4 million penalty payment from the Hollywood Casino for not building a hotel this year.

The commission, administrator and financial staff spent several minutes discussing the best way to accomplish the fire station project.

While Mayor Holland pointed out that the UG could have added the fire station during the year even if it wasn’t specifically funded in the budget, through issuing temporary notes, Commissioner Kane said he nevertheless wanted a commitment to it in the budget.

The fire station had the support of all the commission and mayor, although the mayor and administrator had gone about it in a different way, earlier saying they would have liked to wait for a negotiations agreement with firefighters before putting it in the budget. There are multiple needs for new stations or repairs throughout the community, according to UG officials.

The UG still will have to work on staffing for the new fire station, and that will be dependent on working out an agreement with the firefighters, as well as the committee that has been meeting on the implementation of the fire study plan, according to officials. The fire study recommended consolidating some fire stations in eastern Kansas City, Kan., that were close together, while adding the Piper station. The UG hopes to achieve some savings from the fire study implementation, in the areas such as consolidating stations and reducing overtime, which was over $1 million, according to officials.

Commissioner Walker voted against the budget item for the UG’s payment in lieu of taxes fee on the Board of Public Utilities’ bill, stating that the UG has not made any progress in reducing the PILOT fee, and it was a past commitment. He said he would vote against it until they start reducing it. The PILOT fee was not changed this year. The PILOT fee passed 8-1.

To see an earlier budget story, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/ug-budget-proposal-recommends-1-mill-property-tax-reduction/.

UG budget information is online at http://www.wycokck.org/InternetDept.aspx?id=9730&menu_id=954&banner=15284.

Funding for a new Piper fire station is not included in the budget that received Unified Government Commission support on Monday night.

The budget that reached a consensus Monday night received UG Commission approval on a straw vote, which is nonbinding. The final budget vote is scheduled at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 28. There was a consensus on the budget on Monday night.

The tentative budget now includes a 2-mill property tax cut instead of the originally proposed 1-mill cut. That means instead of about $1 million going to property tax relief, about $2 million will go toward tax relief. The UG’s budget is expected to receive a boost of about 12 mills (about $12 million) this coming year when the sales tax revenue bonds are paid off at Village West.

There was also some support for continued property tax reduction in future years.

The administrator’s original budget on July 7 was aimed at “getting our house in order,” restoring about $5 million in fund balances that were tapped during the recession, replacing worn-out equipment especially for public safety, and making repairs, according to UG officials.

Many of the UG commissioners backed projects in their districts that received approval on Monday night. The UG administrator had listed several of the new projects for cuts, but commissioners instead decided to cut the amount of funds that would go to fund balances, or reserves, and leave the programs in place.

The new fire station at Piper was brought up by Commissioner Mike Kane, but the fire station was not placed into the budget.

The Kansas City, Kan., Fire Department has some expensive fire equipment in the proposed budget, including four apparatus and two ambulances. UG officials have said that the UG is currently in negotiations with the firefighters’ union. At an earlier meeting, UG officials said they wanted to implement the fire study recommendations as a whole, not build a new fire station in Piper without implementing other parts of the plan. The plan called for some mergers of fire stations on the east side of Kansas City, Kan.

A representative of the firefighters’ union appeared at a recent budget meeting to explain that they have a different set of facts than those that were used in a consultant’s study of the Fire Department. Firefighters have written on social media that they haven’t had a raise in three years.

At the Monday night meeting, UG Administrator Doug Bach told Kane that the fire station was tied to reductions in overtime at the Fire Department.

“They (the fire stations) are based on how we put together the savings we generate back from the Fire Department’s budget,” Bach said.

Kane, who has been bringing up the issue of a Piper fire station for 11 years, asked for a plan to set money aside to start building the fire station now.

Mayor Mark Holland said the station needs to be built, but it needs to be part of the fire study plan.

Kane said a fire station is needed in the Piper area because of the amount of growth that has taken place over the past decade. He said more than 13 subdivisions have been built in Piper in the last decade or so.

The UG earlier found a high level of overtime in public safety departments. According to UG officials, the UG wants to take the savings out of overtime in the Fire Department and apply it toward the new fire station.

The revised budget added the police body camera program for $400,000, as well as home repair funding at $50,000 and Area Agency on Aging supplies at $50,000.

None of the administrator’s proposed cuts are scheduled now, after the commission’s discussion Monday. If approved they would have been a $1.1 million cut for the 2-mill property tax cut and a $2.2 million cut in programs for the 3-mill property tax cut. The details of the UG administrator’s proposed cuts for the 2-mill property tax cut and the 3-mill property tax cut:

Programs that would have been cut had the administrator’s 2-mill reduction been implemented. (None of them are scheduled to be cut now, except $400,000 from Water Pollution Control fund and $100,000 from grant match funding):
• Water Pollution Control Fund, would have been cut $500,000.
• Park ranger position in Parks and Rec, $60,000.
• An intern in the blight reduction program, $20,000.
• Two inspectors in the blight reduction program, $36,000.
• K-State Extension, $50,000.
• Blight reduction program, grant matching, $100,000.
• Street repair, curb and sidewalks, $315,000.
• City Hall, sixth floor remodel, $69,000.
• Argentine Recreation Center, $350,000.
• Commission special fund, $20,000.

Programs that would have been cut had the administrator’s 3-mill reduction been implemented. (None of them are scheduled to be cut now, except $400,000 from Water Pollution Control fund and $100,000 from grant match funding):
• Water Pollution Control Fund, would have been cut $500,000.
• Media relations specialist, $73,000.
• Third newsletter, $26,000.
• Horticulturist for Parks and Rec, $56,000.
• Parks manager for Parks and Rec, $62,000.
• Park ranger for Parks and Rec, $60,000
• Human resources analyst position, $52,000.
• Animal control officer, $56,000.
• Zoning enforcement officer for the blight reduction program, $46,000.
• An intern in the blight reduction program, $20,000.
• Two inspectors in the blight reduction program, $72,000.
• Fire aerial, $110,000.
• K-State Extension, $50,000.
• Animal control vehicle, $27,000.
• Demolition, public outreach, mowing, $125,000.
• Blight reduction program, grant match funding, $100,000.
• Street repair, curb and sidewalks, $350,000.
• City Hall, sixth floor remodel, $69,000.
• Argentine Recreation Center, $350,000.
• Commission special fund, $20,000.

To see the July 25 budget story, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/ug-commission-moves-forward-with-2-mill-property-tax-reduction/

To see a July 7 budget story, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/ug-budget-proposal-recommends-1-mill-property-tax-reduction/
To view the Monday night budget meeting, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UlJAstcyo4.