Unified Government buys more time before deciding whether to raise property taxes
Residents in Wyandotte County will have to wait another week to know whether they should prepare for higher property tax bills next year.
Wyandotte County commissioners held off on deciding where to cap property taxes in the next budget year after a nearly six-hour, at times heated, public meeting Thursday evening.
The board, more than four hours into a meeting that ran past midnight, postponed deciding on whether it will freeze or increase the amount taxpayers give the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, until July 17 at 5 p.m.
That means they have until next Thursday to decide whether they want to increase owners’ property tax bills to be able to better fund services and potentially restore cuts made last year, or whether they want to continue to cap the amount of tax money coming in and keep people’s bills lower. The latter would require the Unified Government to continue to make cuts and dip into its reserve funding to keep operations afloat.
Commissioners decided to wait until government staff produce additional information, including final spending data from the previous budget year, before proceeding.
Mayor Tyrone Garner, who leaned in favor of holding off on the decision for now, split the tie vote among commissioners.
The board was initially scheduled to consider staff’s recommendation that the Unified Government collect new property tax dollars in the 2026 budget year — and potentially increase tax bills — instead of continuing to freeze its property tax revenue for a second consecutive year.
It was also supposed to consider a recommendation to set its property tax rate for the coming year.
The contentious decision comes a year after commissioners voted to freeze property tax revenues in an effort to quell residents’ concerns about rising bills and of losing their homes when basic living expenses are increasingly expensive. That decision resulted in a tricky 2025 budget year that hit government programs and local services with a wave of budget cuts, according to the Unified Government.
Resident opinions delivered during a public hearing that preceded the board’s lengthy discussion were mixed. Several people wrote in demanding the commission lower taxes, if not maintain revenue neutral, to help aging and low-income residents who have seen their annual bills soar in recent years. Others asked that, should the board vote to increase area bills, that investment be reflected in area infrastructure. A few asked the board to consider the Unified Government’s need for long-term financial accountability and sustainability in the face of mounting debt.
Staff proposal
Unified Government financial staff pitched setting the maximum tax rate commissioners could adopt, but not necessarily the rate they will recommend for adoption later this summer, to be 5 mills – or dollars per $1,000 property valuation – higher on both the city and county side.
Adopting the maximum rate possible, instead of opting to set a lower rate that would stagnate revenues or keep the current rate that would bring in about $12.6 million in revenues, gives government staff a jumping off point as they budget 2026 expenditures, County Administrator David Johnston said.
The county is on track to spend $3.4 million more this coming year than in 2025, and the city is on track to spend $4.9 million more. Without new revenues, those expenses would drain the government’s reserve funding, said Reginald Lindsey, budget director.
Government staff alluded to eventually proposing a tax rate that’s lower than the maximum amount but higher than keeping the current rate, which with an uptick in home values would still bring in new tax dollars.
If the government were to adopt the proposed maximum rate, which staff said they do not plan to recommend come decision time, it would result in a combined $240 increase on the amount a KCK resident pays on their property tax bill for a $200,000 home, according to the financial department’s presentation. The median home value in Wyandotte County in 2025 was $182,000.
How they voted
The following members voted to hold off on making the decision:
Melissa Bynum, District 1 at-large
Tom Burroughs, District 2 at-large
Gale Townshend, District 1
Evelyn Hill, District 4
Chuck Stites, District 7
Garner
The following disagreed with that vote:
Bill Burns Jr., District 2
Mike Kane, District 5
Christian Ramirez, District 3
Philip Lopez, District 6
Andrew Davis, District 8
Commissioners will revisit the item during a 5 p.m. commission meeting next Thursday. Other agenda items the board did not address due to the length of the conversation will also appear on next week’s agenda for consideration.
