Wyandotte County considers lower property tax rate, but homeowners may still pay more
The Unified Government of Wyandotte County Board of Commissioners passed a measure this week that would allow the local government to collect more in property taxes than it did last year.
Commissioners said they are actually considering lowering the tax rate. But because of rising property values residents may still get a higher tax bill.
The action Monday came as the board met in special session near the end of a months-long process for the 2023 proposed budget. The commissioners must vote on a proposed tax rate in September.
If the Unified Government settles on a two mill levy reduction on the county side, a resident’s property taxes for a $150,000 home in Kansas City, Kansas, would increase $205 from last year. For a Wyandotte County home outside the city, the tax bill would increase $83.
Several residents who addressed commissioners during public comments Monday pleaded for their elected officials to help alleviate the burden as property taxes have steadily increased year after year. Some homeowners said they are on fixed incomes and cannot afford pay more in taxes this coming year.
To pass the measure allowing the increase in property taxes, the commissioners overruled Mayor Tyrone Garner’s veto with a vote of 8-2, with commissioners Tom Burroughs, At-Large District 2, and Chuck Stites, District 7, voting against.
Garner had opposed an increase in taxes, instead lobbying for broad budget cuts that would exclude police and fire services.
“We’ve slowly been taxing our residents out of this community,” Garner said said. “We need to start working on behalf of these people.”
Some commissioners disagreed, saying the Unified Government is already understaffed and retaining employees and hiring applicants would be difficult with broad budget cuts.
Others said it would be difficult to fix roads and provide other city services that residents have asked for with those cuts.
“We’re real people and we are certainly dealing with and managing our limited finances in many of the same ways that those of you that spoke to us are,” said Commissioner Melissa Bynum, At-Large District 1. “It’s my firm belief that people inside of our Unified Government are absolutely looking for solutions and innovations and creative ways to bring cost savings into the community.”
Monday’s meeting and vote was required for the Unified Government to move forward in its budget process because of a law passed last year by the Kansas Legislature.
The law requires local governments to hold a public hearing if they expect to collect more in property taxes than the did the year before.
