EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
A major focus of the recent budget controversy has been the way Seward County has paid back taxpayers who challenged valuations and received refunds or credits.
During the Sept. 15 required Revenue Neutral Rate hearing, taxpayer Justin Alexander spoke to the commission about options on repaying Arkalon Ethanol after a proposal was made to raise property taxes by a proposed 25.868 mills with 21 of those to be placed into an account based on what Seward County Administrator April Warden described as a “worst case scenario” in a case with Arkalon Ethanol, LLC.
That tax hike was later adjusted to 13.4 mills when the district court handling the case ruled that it would only make a decision on years 2018, 2019 and 2020.
But Alexander asked if it was possible for that payback to be done over a period of time rather than all at once.
During her answer, Warden stated that a previous case with DCP/National Helium was settled by an agreement rather than court action, but the timeframe she provided has been refuted.
“We actually made our last payment on DCP National Helium this year, and it was a five-year agreement with them, to pay it out over a five-year period,” Warden said.
But a public records request for payments made to DCP revealed payments have not been made since 2021 according to Seward County Treasurer Mary Rose.
“I am assured after exhausting and thoroughly researching I find no evidence that supports payments are still being made by Seward County for the National Helium LLC c/o DCP Midstream settlement since April 2021 ...” Rose’s statement noted.
Rose provided the agreement between Seward County and DCP which allowed both parties to reach a settled valuation amount. Seward County had modified DCP’s valuation from $28 million in 2014 to $176 million in 2015, a $148 million valuation increase after DCP made modifications to its facilities.
Two years later, DCP and Seward County reached an agreement that avoided costly appeals and years of litigation by agreeing to a valuation of $85 million and then locking in the valuation at $95 million from 2018 to 2023.
Rose also checked with former Treasurer Kitty Romine as well as with Seward County Clerk Stacia Long to verify any payments made to DCP since 2021.
“I asked the elected county clerk if any account payables or receivables have been sent out with National Helium c/o DCP on them since I have seen none on the warrant register (which is where all bills are verified by the County Clerk, County Treasurer, 4 County Commissioners, County Administrator, and County Counselor sign off on twice a month. So, eight people sign off on any checks, wires, direct deposits, coming out of the bank on the warrant register). That office e-mailed me back Oct. 15, 2025, stating ‘didn’t see/find any vendor by that name.’”
In addition, Rose ran a general ledger report which she said was 682 pages long from Jan. 1, 2023 to Oct. 15, 2025 to see if there had been any transactions.
“I saw nothing of National Helium LLC c/o DCP as a debit nor a credit,” Rose wrote in her response to the open records request.
Rose also included in her response the settlement agreement between the two parties which also outlines a timeframe on a payback which would appear to have ended no later than 2022 with credits issued to the taxpayer to make up for the excessive taxes the company already paid.
The agreement was also evidence of how the previous commission was able to negotiate a settlement and avoid uncertainty and a lengthy legal battle.
Some members of the current commission have repeatedly stated previous commissions created the current issue, however, they do not reference how the previous commission reached a settled agreement with DCP and avoided the issues now being faced by the current commission.
According to the agreement, “absent this settlement, the Parties recognize and acknowledge they will each experience substantial uncertainty, inconvenience and delay in seeking an ultimate resolution of the past and current Disputes” and “resolving the Disputes before the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals and through the judicial system generally would be expensive, extremely inconvenient and would likely take a period of years to resolve ...”
A review of the 2025 Seward County budget did not reveal any payments made to DCP, and it is unclear as to what payments Warden referenced in her comment to Alexander or if any payments were made, who actually received them or where they were recorded.
The Seward County Commission will meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Seward County Commission Chambers, and an agenda item includes revisiting the recent 13.4 mill tax hike.
