No sales tax election this fall

Posted by Nick Sloan on September 28, 2009 - 7:28pm
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In light of the closeness of November, the Unified Government decided tonight not to get involved with a fall sales tax election.

Instead, it appears the issue will come back up in the spring. The UG would have had only around a month of time to engage in an informational campaign about the quarter-cent sales tax.

The UG Board of Commissioners approved the measure tonight 8-1 that would not call for an election this fall, citing the timeliness and disagreements among some commissioners.

"We don't agree on a whole in what this tax should go to," said Mike Kaine, commissioner.

During the evening, the commissioners engaged on what the ballot question should be about. The two areas that were most popular in where the tax would go would be infrastructure and public safety.

Commissioner Mark Holland appeared to be the strongest advocate for using the revenue generated for infrastructure.

"We have stimulus money coming in for fire and police," he said. "We gutted our infrastructure in last year's budget. The sales tax should build our city."

In the corner of public safety was Commissioner Nathan Barnes.

"The stimulus is only adding 12 police officers," Barnes said. "We want visitors to our city to know that they'll be safe. Whether its coming in the west or the east, you'll be safe if you visit our city."

The one dissenting vote on pushing the sales tax issue aside for the remainder of the year was Commissioner Pat Pettey.

"This has been out there during our budget process," she said. "Our public is aware of what's going on and the public is aware there is a discussion."

Unified Government Mayor/CEO Joe Reardon said more specifics on what the sales tax would do for the community is needed.

"In 10 years we need to know how much we got to do with this," he said. "The public will ask 'what does that do for me?' We have to know and we better know."

UG projections indicate the county would receive about $4 million a year if a quarter-cent sales tax would be supported by the voting public.

Posted by Anthony Goode on September 29, 2009 - 12:26am
I think it is good that the UG is actually taking it's time on this one, so it can get a clear thought out plan of action. The people of this city deserve to know what their tax dollars will be used for.
Posted by j white on September 29, 2009 - 8:27am
Wow, I must say I am impressed by this decision. Our elected leaders actually deciding that a determination needs to be made on how to spend our money before asking us to give them more of our money. I can't recall the last time I have voted for a tax increase - but if there is this much deliberation and forethought given to how the money is to be spent . . . I will certainly give consideration to voting for this - IF I am convinced they will used the came caution when the money is spent. It almost makes one think they may be beginning to respect the fact that they are asking me to give more of the money I have earned to take care of my family - money is tight for us also! The Council must continue to show this kind of scrutiny as they spend the money we Wyandotte County citizens have earned. Skeptical, but I can be convinced.
Posted by John Altevogt on September 29, 2009 - 1:34pm
They're simply giving themselves enough time to propagandize the people of Wyandotte County.

Instead of cooking up more reasons for us to continue shopping in Johnson County, Reardon should stop overappraising our homes. I just ran the latest data and found that every home that sold in Edwardsville for under 150,000 in the last 180 days was overappraised on average 174% of their actual sales value. Every one of them. Let Reardon and this ridiculous UG do something about that before they come begging us for yet more of our money.

If Reardon had any respect for us Gene Bryan would have been gone years ago. Instead he has repeatedly re-appointed him knowing that he will continue to rip us off with his outrageous over taxation of our homes.

If you can be convinced to embrace this counter-productive measure you will have once again been fooled.

Incidentally, just as an indication of what will happen if the sales tax is increased. I found out that I could buy the same tires at the Shawnee store cheaper than I could at the Legends store because the tax was higher at the Legends store. Bye-bye WYCO, hello Shawnee. So by all means raise the tax on goods and services in WYCO and watch people flee to places where they can purchase the same goods and services cheaper.
Posted by D Thompson on September 29, 2009 - 1:43pm
John,
I agree about the appraisals, there is no rhyme or reason to the calculations. He may as well be a weatherman and guess the weather.
My question is, how do you stop his errors? He is appointed, not elected, and we need more proof of his errors to band together and show why this man needs to go.
Posted by John Altevogt on September 29, 2009 - 1:53pm
There is no question that Wyandotte County is being overappraised. I understand that the latest state data (which masks much of the problem) even shows that we are overappraised. And, you have answered your own question. Joe Reardon is responsible for Gene Bryan. He appoints him and gives him his marching orders. If he will not fire him and correct the errors then we need to fire Joe Reardon
Posted by fred meyer on September 29, 2009 - 3:06pm
John

You are right on it!!!!