Johnson County to take public safety tax off ballot after judge sides with Kobach
Johnson County officials won’t be able to place a question to extend its public safety sales tax on the ballot this March after a Shawnee County judge ruled that the extension goes beyond its intended scope.
The ruling favored Attorney General Kris Kobach’s claims that the Johnson County Commissioners acted beyond their authority when they approved a November ballot question asking voters to renew the county’s existing public safety sales tax.
Voters originally approved the quarter-cent sales tax in 2016 to fund construction of a new courthouse in downtown Olathe and a county medical examiner’s building, which have both been built.
With an expiration date coming in March 2027, the County Board of Commissioners proposed to extend the tax for another 10 years and put the money toward an expanded set of projects — including emergency medical services, mental health crisis intervention and disaster response.
But Shawnee County District Court Judge Jay Befort ruled that the expanded list of projects don’t match what voters approved in 2016.
“The statute only authorizes a tax to build and operate qualifying structures, not to fund unrelated services and programs,” the ruling said. “Revenue raised shall be pledged ‘for the purpose of financing the construction and operation costs’ of the facilities.”
While he agreed that emergency response services, mental health crisis intervention and disaster response are important services provided by the county, “such services or interventions are not law enforcement facilities and are not directly connected to such facilities,” going beyond the scope of the 2016 vote.
“I am pleased that the court agreed with my interpretation of the law,” Kobach said in a public statement. “The Kansas Legislature carefully limited the ability of Johnson County to tax its residents. This decision prevents the county from exceeding its legal authority and protects taxpayers.”
What now?
After Befort issued his ruling, the commissioners met with the county’s legal team in an emergency executive session on Tuesday night to discuss how to move forward.
When they came back to open session, the commissioners announced that they would place a resolution on Thursday’s regular commission agenda to repeal the March special election.
But the need to fund public safety projects still exists, Commissioner Chair Mike Kelly said at the end of the brief meeting.
“Our county continues to grow and the projects and services that affect everyone’s quality of life and the cost of those will continue to increase,” he said. “As county leaders, we will remain committed to meeting those needs and explore all options to continue providing services and programs that our residents expect and deserve.”
How the county does that is unclear.
“County leaders remain committed to meeting community needs and will explore all options to continue providing high-quality services and programs to support our growing and aging population,” a county spokesperson said in a statement. “We will have more information on next steps in the near future.”
