L&T Publisher Earl Watt
It’s not very often that you can say that three Republicans voted for one of the largest tax increases in history, but that was the case last night at the Seward County Commission meeting.
Scott Carr, Tammy Sutherland-Abbott and Presephoni Fuller voted for a 13-plus mill increase while Republican commissioners Steve Helm and Todd Stanton voted against it.
It’s true that the commission is facing a refund to an overcharged taxpayer, but that is only a small fraction of the proposed increase.
Commissioner Helm suggested cuts at a recent work session, but his efforts were not even considered by the three commissioners who voted for the increase.
No one expected a zero increase. One voter who spoke at the public hearing said he fully expected some increase, just not a double digit mill increase.
The public hearing was dominated by county administration and a couple of commissioners. The “public” portion of the discussion was limited, and when taxpayer Carolyn Huddleston tried to educate the commission on some of their expenditures, she was interrupted and filibustered by comments from administration until her time had expired. As a citizen, Huddleston had done extensive comparisons of expenses for Seward County compared to other counties, but she was cut short of sharing what she had discovered. To say there was a cooling effect on inviting comment was an understatement after Huddleston.
Despite public concerns, despite the difficulty everyone else is facing, there was no budging from the number the Taxing Trio had decided prior to the meeting.
The Class of 2022 were elected together, and oftentimes administration has referred to the three collectively. They have continued to operate in tandem as they did at the Monday Revenue Neutral Rate hearing.
Clearly taxpayers always want to pay the least amount possible, and someone question why property taxes are required at all.
But public works need a funding source to provide public safety, roads, sanitation and other services. The county is no different. And County Administrator April Warden pointed out that the county has been flat in revenue for a few years.
That’s true.
But the Taxing Trio have now passed three budgets. They had chances in 2023 and 2024 to make any necessary adjustments. Last year a proposed 8 mill increase failed for a lack of a second, and because process was not followed, Seward had to stay revenue neutral. And yet there were no layoffs. There were no salary cuts. To the contrary, from 2024 to 2025 there have been multiple raises despite the revenue remaining neutral.
It was also mentioned by Administrator Warden that 18 positions were “cut.” That is simply not the case. Some positions have remained open, like trying to fill all the positions for the Sheriff’s department, and in some cases where an opening occurred in other departments, existing staff members were given raises to take on the work of another employee. But staff size year to year from 2024 to 2025 was not reduced by 18 employees. That was simply not true.
It was mentioned that the county had eight budget meetings and two town halls.
But those town halls were not to receive input but to indoctrinate the public. There was no give and take. No question about what the public wanted or didn’t want. It was a recital of county operations, which was supposed to convince everyone that what was being requested was reasonable.
When it was questioned, platitudes and rhetoric were offered as answers.
For example, when questioned about the half cent sales tax for road improvements, the response was, “Roads provide safety. Roads help with economic development.”
Nice platitudes and can apply everywhere. It offered no substantive reason why any specific roadways need additional maintenance to the tune of nearly doubling the road and bridge budget.
Leadership requires public trust to be effective. Decisions like these erode that trust.
Senator Caryn Tyson came to Southwest Kansas to watch this scenario play out. Before the hearing, she hosted a public information meeting, and unlike what happened at the commission meeting, she asked voters what they wanted in the form of an amendment to the Kansas Constitution, a cap on increases or a cap on a dollar amount increase? She sought public input rather than trying to sell a plan to the public.
Several at that meeting wanted both.
After last night’s RNR hearing where the Taxing Trio made no accommodation to public input, the Kansas Legislature may have no choice but to limit how much a local unit of government can take from the people they represent.
Despite increasing their take by just under $4 million, they still did not approve a financial officer who could better manage the fiscal responsibilities of Seward County. With a $40 million budget, it would seem a dereliction of duty not to have a finance officer. At this point, the Taxing Trio have opted to continue to operate without this vital position.
After three years of leadership, they have had opportunities to address challenges, and yet the blame is still placed on previous commissioners despite the fact that this is their third budget. And nothing close to this was proposed before.
The responsibility lies with existing commissioners. Todd Stanton and Steve Helm did not join the Taxing Trio.
There is a Kansas statute that may apply. KSA 19-117 provides for a public petition challenging a tax by collecting 5 percent of qualified electors. If that means 5 percent of those who voted in the previous county-wide election, 230 signatures would force a public vote. If it means 5 percent of registered voters, it would take 557 signatures. Either seems doable.
