After millions in tax breaks for big corporations, Wyandotte County leader cashes in
We already know that controversial administrator Doug Bach left the Wyandotte County Unified Government with an outrageously lavish resignation package.
And what public information was on the county computer and cell phone Bach was allowed to keep? Did the UG bother to copy his hard drive or cell phone records? A UG spokesperson declined to answer any of these questions.
According to his separation agreement, taxpayers already burdened by the county’s high property taxes and low household incomes owe Bach $336,445 in pay through mid-March of — get this — 2024. He’s allowed to keep his government vehicle and electronic devices at favorable discounts.
In all, the Unified Government gave Bach with a payout worth at least $813,000, though one estimate is it exceeds $1 million in value.
Bach, in the job not quite eight years, is also leaving with an astonishing $427,364 in accrued leave, to include: $292,480 in compensatory time (as if he were an hourly worker rather than a high-salaried executive); $80,000 in vacation time; $52,257 in accrued sick leave; and $2,412 for 24 hours of “bonus personal leave.”
Oh, and that $427,364 in accrued leave — who kept track of it? — will also add to Bach’s final average salary in determining his Kansas Public Employees Retirement System benefits, raising his permanent monthly retirement income.
And then there’s the $56,000 in last-minute taxpayer contributions to his retirement account, which represents Bach’s 2021 and 2022 “contribution and catch-up contribution.”
What did he do to deserve this largesse?
“He abandoned the job and retired,” says former Kansas City, Kansas, mayoral aide and Edwardsville city manager Doug Spangler, a vocal critic of Bach’s tenure. “I don’t know why the county arrived at that agreement with him. I just think it’s a travesty.” With all the retirement goodies, Spangler puts Bach’s package at over $1 million.
Former Wyandotte County state legislator Chris Steineger says that “given the average family income in Wyandotte is about $44,000 a year, and considering we have some of the highest property taxes in the metro, and extremely high utility bills, then Doug Bach’s severance package is excessive.”
Spangler claims Bach ambushed UG commissioners with phone book-thick development deals in which the terms were often negotiated after their approval. The result was extravagant tax abatements for large corporations, even as small businesses and low-income residents struggled with their own crushing taxes.
If the tax abatements for companies that don’t need them stop now, maybe the million-dollar sendoff will have been worth it? No, actually, not even then.