Window on the West
Opinion column
by Mary Rupert
Should property taxes be reduced or not, and if so, by how much? That’s one of the questions that may come up at tonight’s Unified Government budget meeting, scheduled at 5 p.m. on the fifth floor of City Hall, 701 N.7th St., Kansas City, Kan.
The budget as it was originally announced proposed a slight, 1 mill property tax reduction for 2017, with a 2 mill reduction for 2018. The budget will be adopted at the end of this month.
Commissioner Hal Walker made a good point at the last budget meeting, on July 11 (https://wyandotteonline.com/police-chief-requests-1-million-for-body-cameras-ug-commission-votes-to-set-maximum-mill-levy-at-same-amount-as-previous-year/). He said he believes the present UG Commission’s predecessors made a commitment to the taxpayers that when this money came in from Village West, their payoff was going to be reduced taxes.
Certainly, I think there has been a big expectation from many in the community that their property taxes would be reduced when the sales tax revenue (STAR) bonds are paid off at Village West. Construction started on the Kansas Speedway in 1998, and then development occurred at The Legends Outlets nearby and other Village West locations.
I looked up some past references to property tax expectations, and I found:
• The recent citizen survey taken by the UG regularly lists property tax reduction as one of the residents’ priorities.
• The listening tour of the community’s UG districts also had property tax reduction as the top resident and business priority. Nineteen percent of the residents thought property tax reduction was the top priority, with $2.28 million the amount to be reduced. Twenty-six percent of the businesses wanted property tax relief as the first priority, with $3.17 million the suggested amount. (http://www.wycokck.org/Listen/)
• In 2014, Mayor Mark Holland remarked in the state of the government address that the UG had to lower taxes, and the mill levy was too high. The UG needed to address spending now so that it didn’t spend all the $12 million from the payoff of the STAR bonds in advance.
• In 2013, Mayor Holland reaffirmed a commitment to reducing property taxes and announced a four-step plan in his state of the government address. He discussed shifting the load from property to sales taxes.
• In 2013, when the UG candidates were running for office, many of them, including Walker, Ann Murguia, and Holland, cited lower property taxes as one of their goals. (http://fox4kc.com/2013/02/18/kck-mayoral-candidates-square-off-in-debate/)
• A 2009 progress edition story in the Wyandotte West written by a UG spokesman quoted a Wall Street Journal story as saying that residents are watching tax rates fall.
• In 2006, Mayor Joe Reardon said he would make property tax reduction a priority. (State of the government speech)
• It wasn’t just the Village West development that had residents expecting lower taxes. With the consolidation of the city and county governments, lower taxes were promised. On June 30, 1998, the Kansas City Kansan reported that tax cuts were the goal of consolidation, and the UG Commission’s goal was to lower property taxes by 8 percent, by decreasing taxes 2 percent a year, in the first four years after consolidation.
On the other side of the argument, one could make the case that taxes would have been much higher had not the new development occurred at Village West. Each year the UG budget department reports that property tax rates have fallen over the past 20 years.
Sometimes it is necessary to make changes in one’s goals, depending on the circumstances. Everyone does that frequently. Sometimes there are new expenses that are beyond one’s control. But also, people should not pretend that tax reduction was never a plan or a promise.
Currently there is a feeling that because of the property tax lid imposed by the state, if the community lowers property taxes too much, it won’t be able to meet any future needs, and be unable to raise them later.
I think Commissioner Walker is correct when he says that the community expects a property tax reduction, and the commission would be wise to listen and at least make sure that there is some property tax reduction this year.
To reach Mary Rupert, editor, email [email protected].