The Unified Government Commission is scheduled to adopt its budget at a meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday, July 16.
It will be a remote Zoom meeting, available through the internet, phone and also on UGTV cable television on Spectrum cable channel 2 and Google Fiber channel 141.
UG commissioners have the option of either accepting the UG administrator’s proposed budget or of changing it. The administrator proposed a budget with no property tax increase. Some fees, such as the stormwater and trash fees, were proposed to increase.
The proposed budget included furloughs and cuts to several areas of the UG budget. Many vacant positions are not being filled.
Salaries make up a very large part of the UG’s budget, according to the UG budget document. The budget document stated that salaries and benefits were proposed to be kept at current rates in 2020 and 2021 budgets, with only contractual increases built in for the 2021 budget year that were currently in place. There is a 7 percent increase in health benefit coverage in the 2021 budget.
To see a list of top UG salaries in 2019, published by the Kansas Open Government website, visit http://www.kansasopengov.org/kog/databank#report_id=1&county=Wyandotte&year=2019.
Besides the city and county budgets, the UG Commission also is asked tonight to approve the Self-Supported Municipal Improvement District (Downtown Improvement District), the sewer service charge, solid waste fee, BPU PILOT fee, the Community Development, annual action plan and citizen participation plan, and the Wyandotte County Library mill levy.
The SSMID, Downtown Improvement District, is looking at a budget increase. The district includes downtown property owners who formed a group that will provide extra security and cleaning services.
The UG sewer service charge is proposed to increase 5 percent. The monthly base charge would go from $20.30 a month to $21.32 a month, with a 5 percent increase in charges per cubic feet.
The UG solid waste fee is proposed to increase from $15.65 to $16 in 2021 for residential units.
There is no change proposed to the PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) fee to residents and businesses; it is proposed to remain at 11.9 percent.
The UG sewer service charge, solid waste fee and PILOT fees are placed on BPU bills.
The county library mill levy, for those who live in Turner, Edwardsville and Piper, is a proposed increase.
Also on the agenda are resolutions to issue temporary notes to finance an enterprise resource planning system, and to sell municipal temporary notes and general obligation improvement and refunding bonds.
According to the UG budget document, the county library expenditures are proposed to go from $2,923,704 in 2019 to $3,069,869 in 2020 and $3,315,480 in 2021. At a recent budget meeting, UG officials said the commission is directed to approve the county library budget, but is not allowed to make changes to it, under state law. The county library levy was at 6.122 mills.
Those residents who live inside the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools district pay a library mill levy rate of 11.145 mills, that the UG Commission does not vote on. That levy is under the KCK school board. The city of Bonner Springs has its own library mill levy.
The UG meeting at 5 p.m. July 16 will be on Zoom on the internet:
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The UG agenda for the budget adoption meeting is online at https://wycokck.civicclerk.com/web/UserControls/DocPreview.aspx?p=1&aoid=1756.
The UG budget document is at https://www.wycokck.org/WycoKCK/media/Finance/Documents/Budget/2020-Amended-2021-Proposed-Budget-Unified-Government-WYCO-KCK-FINAL.pdf.
The overview of personnel is on page 635 of the UG budget document.
For previous UG budget stories, visit:
https://wyandotteonline.com/ug-administrator-proposes-flat-mill-levy-rate-for-2021/
https://wyandotteonline.com/fairfax-fire-station-loses-in-ug-straw-poll-das-ciu-gets-preliminary-nod/
https://wyandotteonline.com/ug-budget-hearing-to-be-tonight/
https://wyandotteonline.com/ug-commissioners-offer-proposals-for-fairfax-and-new-piper-fire-station-funding/