ROBERT PIERCE

   • Leader & Times

With the recent stay order issued by the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals allowing the county to reduce property tax to revenue neutral, workers in the Seward County Treasurer’s office have now begun processing new statements, checks and credits for property owners.

Treasurer Mary Rose said an initial complaint came through after commissioners in September 2025 narrowly voted to pass a 17-mill property tax increase.  She said before the Dec. 31, 2025, deadline, she had sent a total of 173 complaints to BOTA, and from there, conversations with the county attorney started regarding the complaints.

Rose, though, said the only part she played in the initial discussion was her belief regarding what she thought should happen in the Revenue Neutral Rate process.

After meeting with the county attorney, Rose said she talked to County Counsel Forrest Rhodes when a primary settlement came through regarding the BOTA case with Arkalon Energy.

“They wanted me to print off the statements,” Rose said. “I was like I’ll print off the statements, but I’m not going to do the verbiage. An attorney needs to do that. The final one I had on April 8. I had called him about some stuff.”

Rose kept in correspondence with BOTA officials, and while a preliminary settlement was eventually received via e-mail, county officials had been hoping to have everything done and orders out by March 31.

“March came and went, and I was waiting to see what was going in,” she said. “April 8, I reached out to our county attorney, and he told me what he was waiting on. I reached out to the Board of Tax Appeals and asked them where we’re at. This is my issue. I’m coming into May 10. What are we going to do? I was under the impression he was asking for orders that Thursday and Friday, and hopefully by Monday, he would have them.”

However, that Monday came and went with no orders in place, leaving Rose calling BOTA that Tuesday morning, and she was initially told orders were being tightened up as the phone conversation continued and be in Rose’s hands by the end of the day, if not the next day.

“I had the Southwest Kansas Treasurers Association meeting the next day, and I didn’t get them on the 14th,” she said. “I sent her an e-mail about it on the 15th. She said the orders had been out for an hour, and they finally came into my e-mail about 3:27 from our county attorney.”

At that point, treasurer’s office began implementing  processes to begin making new tax statements for property owners. This was followed by County Clerk Stacia Long pushing taxes back to RNR last Friday morning.

“At that point in time, it was then transferred over to the treasurer’s office, and we started printing off RNR refunds Friday at 1,” Rose said.

Treasurer’s staff worked Friday and even on Sunday to start the process of modifying tax statements, and Rose said some kinks had to be ironed out as work started.

“We were getting to the point where it was taking us 46 seconds to process every parcel,” she said. “I was like that’s not going to work.”

Monday morning, Rose called the county’s Information Technology department, and it was discovered it was a printing issue, not a software issue, causing problems.

“They fixed that, and we’re coming down to seven seconds to 22 seconds per transaction,” she said. “We had anticipated to have 2,000 transactions done every 12 hours – 4,000 a day. We’ve been able to up that to 3,100 transactions per 12 days. That’s better. We’re able to process more.”

In addition to printer issues, there were likewise problems with software and timing, but Rose said those kinks have now been ironed out.

“With marrying up the statements with the checks, we had a little issue with that,” she said.

That problem, Rose said, was fixed Monday, and the county’s first taxing unit was done with a total of 83 statements processed in six hours. She said this was due to teaching and learning by the staff.

“We were having mass schooling with the software company,” she said. “Each of us were doing the same thing, trying to see the process. We talked about the processes we went through, recorded everything so we could go back if we had questions. What it’s going to look like for our office is we are working 24 hours around the clock.”

This was fully implemented on Tuesday, and after working until 11 p.m. Monday, staff is now working 12 hour shifts from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Rose said there will be two hours of down time from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. to close out the day with all of the checks that have been written and to balance out taxes for the next business day.

“At midnight, the next day starts, so in the software company, it’ll pop up at midnight,” she said. “It’ll transfer the day over. We’ll let it do its update, and we’ll start processing for the next day. It’ll carry on through the day shift. We had to tweak that process a little to see how we’re going to maneuver around that.”

At the end of Monday, the treasurer’s office had done several taxing units, with more scheduled for the following days, and at that time, an estimated $137,299.91 had been refunded by check alone.

Rose said the Seward County Sheriff’s office is providing security for those on the night shift, and she said the community has been quite patient and understanding with what is happening.

As for what taxpayers will get, Rose said an amended tax statement will be sent in the mail with either a check or credit. She said the first run of statements is scheduled to be initiated in early June.

A few years ago, Rose’s office changed its hours of operation to cut down on the hours of overtime for staff. When the process was discussed for issuing new statements, overtime was discussed, but with outside parties charging as much as $300,000, county leaders opted to go with two extra hours of work per day instead.

“The night shift is working their eight hours,” she said.

County commissioners approved an RNR budget for the project for $20,000, and Rose said this includes postage, overtime, meals and any other expenses incurred during the process.

Rose said both the commission and the public are understanding of overtime, and she said it is imperative to keep the process moving until it is done.

“We can’t stop it,” she said. “It’s held up the tax season. It’s held up taking tax payments and posting those. It’s held up looking at people’s taxes. It’s imperative we work day and night to get it done. We’re doing this as the final orders to something the commission chose to change.”

Rose estimated all statements should be processed by May 1, and she estimated the total overtime cost for the two weeks to completion was about $7,700 for a staff of eight. She said it cost her department about $5,900 to run statements in December 2025, and she is looking at that same amount this time.

As for whether a taxpayer will receive a credit or a refund, Rose said those who paid only their first half in December will receive a credit for their second half due in May.

“That person will get a statement and a credit receipt in the mail,” she said.

On the other hand, those who have paid their taxes in full will receive a check with their amended statement. Rose estimated new statements would begin going out Wednesday.

“We’re only doing it by taxing unit,” she said. “We’ve only done four taxing units to date, and there’s 27. The last taxing units we will do are the City of Liberal and the City of Kismet. Those two taxing units are the biggest taxing units. They are the last one we’re doing because we don’t want to start with the biggest and have the errors.”

Rose said she anticipated the first night shifts to be rough, but as statements continue to be processed, she believes things will get easier.

“My goal is not to linger this on, and the girls don’t want to linger on because we want to have summers,” she said. “We all have families. There’s some of us who have kids.”

Rose said staff is likewise having to rearrange schedules and family time to get the project done.

“It’s not that we don’t want to,” she said. “It’s not that we’re not taking into consideration, but we have lives outside of work. We are all obligated. We’re on boards. We’re on committees. We have stuff we do around the community as well, and we’ve had to maneuver that around.”

Rose said even with all of the work going on to get new statements sent out, interruptions in customer service should be minor in her office.

“We still have our daily work,” she said. “We still have to balance everything. We still have everything coming in the bank account, and the big departments are still coming in. That’s still happening behind the scene. The turnaround time may not be the next day, but the girls have been really good.”

Rose said the work currently in progress in her office is a team effort, and she praised the work of her staff.

“They’ve all stepped up,” she said. “They’ve all rearranged their schedules. Their husbands have been helpful. They’ve stepped up to the plate and helped out with the kids or with the house stuff or bringing food or support.”

Rose advised taxpayers the checks they receive are good for 90 days, and the RNR account used to pay for them will close in six months.

“We’re trying to get all of those checks cleared as fast as possible and get everything in the books for the end of the year,” she said. “Don’t wait to cash your check. Some checks might be 97 cents. Some checks might be $10,000. Some checks might be $200 to $300. Whatever they are, that is your money. Cash it. Take it to the bank. Put it in the bank.”

Rose said the money from uncashed checks will be turned over to the Kansas Department of Treasury as unclaimed money.

“It’s still your money whether it’s a dollar or not,” she said. “Cash it. It’s your money. It’s what’s due to you  whether it’s a little or a lot.”

Rose too advised those with mortgages to speak with their mortgage company. She added for those receiving credits for their taxes, checks not be written as a substitute for that credit.

“I’m not allowed to do that because these are orders,” she said. “These are orders by the law, and my job is to follow by the law. We have to make sure everybody understands the order states this specifically has to be done. Therefore, I’m to do that specifically. “

Rose also advised taxpayers to have patience as the process continues.

“We are working as fast as we can to make sure it’s done accurately,” she said. “Give us 14 days. Give us that grace.”