L&T Publisher Earl Watt
When I saw an email from Dave Trabert of the Kansas Policy Institute, I wasn’t surprised.
Trabert and his organization do an outstanding job of informing Kansans on how tax dollars are being used across the state as well as when those dollars are not garnering the results expected.
The KPI also gives Kansans some baseline comparisons to see if their local units of government align with similar communities across the state, like certain local costs of government per person.
We hope to be sharing with you some of those numbers in the weeks ahead.
So what put Seward County on the radar for the watchdog group concerned about taxpayers in Kansas?
I’ll give you three guesses and two don’t count.
Yep, the massive Seward County increase that may well be the highest in Kansas.
Trabert saw the increase, did some math, and gave me a call.
What he shared was sobering.
If Seward County continues to spend as it has under the Taxing Trio of Tammy Sutherland-Abbott, Scott Carr and Presephoni Fuller, Seward County will have blown through $7.68 million in reserves from 2024 and will be down to $80,000 in January 2027.
That’s if the massive 14.8 mill tax increase is allowed to stand once the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals hears the two complaints currently in their system.
Think of that for just a moment. In the six years prior to the Taxing Trio taking control of the county’s finances, Seward County had spent six years building a $7.6 million surplus.
The current leadership has already blown through about $5 million of that according to Trabert’s numbers and according to the numbers reported by Seward County.
The county leadership has seemed unwilling to trim costs, opting instead to have you send in more of your money to fund their appetite for spending.
And for what gain? Can we look to any specific project or expanded service that can be claimed as worthy of the increase spending?
Simply put, the answer is no.
Repairs were made at the Seward County Courthouse, and the wind-damaged bleachers were replaced at the rodeo arena. Those are hardly justifications for blowing through $5 million.
Previous commissions, who have been scapegoated by some on the current commission as the reason for the massive spending, actually covered the cost of government while also building a surplus.
But with no way to be reined in by the people, the Trio opted to allow additional spending beyond the amount of money they were bringing in.
Last year when Seward County had to remain revenue neutral, they weren’t allowed to bring in additional tax dollars but that didn’t stop them from spending as though they had.
An excuse being made now is that the county is overusing its reserve, but that is by choice, not force. Previous commissions functioned on a smaller mill levy and increased the surplus at the same time. They did the hard work of requiring all departments to work within budget restraints.
Commissioner Fuller said they are making the hard decisions now, but raising taxes to record highs is not the hard decision. The hard decision is asking staff to maintain services for the least possible cost.
That’s hard.
Claiming to be a conservative like Sutherland-Abbott did to get elected and then voting for the highest tax increase in history isn’t hard. It’s a betrayal, but it’s not hard.
Carr’s first term as a commissioner has not shown any leadership on budget constraints.
And that’s why Trabert called.
Not only will we be working with the KPI to provide quality data to the local citizens, but Trabert also regularly testifies before state committees with the data the collects.
And make no mistake, as I predicted before they voted for the increase, Seward County will now be the example of why the Legislature cannot trust local units of government with unchecked power over the property of the tax payers.
Seward County will be used in tax hearings, according to Trabert. Because of what has happened here, the ability of commissioners to abuse their own constituents will come to an end when a Kansas Constitutional amendment will prevent local government from raising valuations and mill levies without the ability of the people to reject those increase above a certain level.
While 75 percent of respondents to a KPI poll support the limitations, it’s even higher in Southwest Kansas where 85 percent of the people support restraining out-of-control local units of government.
While most are responsible, like the City of Liberal, Seward County Community College and USD No. 480, it’s the action of a few that cause the need for rules.
Who knows, it might be called the Seward Amendment.
