L&T staff report
A complaint has been filed against the Seward County Commission for violating Revenue Neutral rate with the Seward County Clerk.
According to the complaint filed by Leader & Times Publisher Earl Watt, when the RNR letters sent to taxpayers included an explanation of the requested 25.868 mill increase, the letter set a cap of 21 mills for the pending tax case and 4.868 mills for the rest of the county budget. But according to the new budget increase of 13.4 mills, only 2 mills are being applied to the court case and 11.4 mills are attributed to the rest of the budget.
Since the county explicitly listed the two separate areas of taxation, neither can increase from the stated letter. Since the court case was reduced from 21 to two mills, that is allowed. But raising the rest of the budget from 4.868 to 11 mills violates the stated limit.
State law allows the county clerk to reduce the certified tax levy to comply with RNR, and the complaint suggests the 13.4 mill increase be reduced to 6.868 mills to legally comply with the limits imposed by the RNR statement.
“There are several other groups filing complaints with the Kansas Attorney General challenging the levy and efforts to certify a petition to force the mill increase to a vote, this complaint specifically addresses the very obvious language the Seward County Commission chose to include with the RNR letter,” Watt said. “That documentation results in a legal ceiling to the taxable limit. By specifically listing 21 mills to the court case, that leaves only 4.868 mills for anything else. But their 13.4 mill increase simply does not reflect that 4.868 mill limit and is not allowed under the RNR law.”
If Seward County Clerk Stacia Long agrees, she has the authority to reduce the proposed tax increase to comply with the law.
