Mayor breaks tie to hold line on city levy

Ten days after a packed public hearing where seniors on fixed incomes pleaded for relief, the Unified Government Board of Commissioners adopted its 2027 budget on Thursday, Sept. 3, holding the property tax rate flat for both the city and the county. The decision spared residents the proposed mill levy increase, but it fell short of the deeper cuts many had demanded, and it came only after more than two hours of tangled negotiation over where to trim.

At the Aug. 24 hearing, speaker after speaker had described tax bills that outran their incomes. Carol Johnston said her property taxes ran $876 a month, roughly half of her annual Social Security. Doris Simmons, a widow and retiree, said her taxes had tripled while her income held still. “My pension has not. It’s still the same,” she said. Many asked the board to go revenue neutral, the rate that would have raised the same total dollars as the year before and, given higher valuations, cut nearly two mills from each levy.

The board had voted on Aug. 24 to exceed the revenue neutral rate, an authorization that let it keep the added revenue from rising valuations. On Thursday the commission rejected the further mill increase built into the proposed budget and held the rate flat instead. Neither the city nor the county general fund will carry a mill levy increase in 2027.

To reach that flat rate without dipping into cash reserves, commissioners directed UG staff to find roughly $946 thousand in county adjustments and close a nearly $2 million gap on the city side. The county budget passed 7 to 3, and the city budget passed 6 to 5 only after Mayor Christal Watson cast the tie-breaking vote.

A county budget with no mill increase

The proposed budget had carried a full additional mill on the county side, split between the general fund and CIFI, a program that channels county dollars to KCK, Bonner Springs, and Edwardsville for infrastructure projects the cities choose. Staff returned Thursday with options that reached a flat rate instead, and the commission spent close to an hour working through the math out loud.

Much of that time turned on a single figure. Watson pressed staff to size the cuts to the county’s actual shortfall, a negative $946 thousand, rather than to the $1.16 million value of a half mill. “I don’t want to add to the fund balance. I want to just keep it flat,” she said. The distinction mattered because the smaller target meant fewer reductions.

Two motions to steer the leftover room into the CIFI fund or back into reserves both failed 4 to 6. Commissioner Andrew Kump (At-Large Dist. 2) had argued for putting something toward infrastructure, noting how long the fund had gone without money. “We haven’t put anything to that for ages,” he said.

The plan that carried came from Commissioner Andrew Davis (Dist. 8). “No mill levy increase. Yes to the sheriff. Yes to the radio siren replacement using cash. Everything else we cut,” he said. His motion funded the sheriff’s requested hiring, paid for siren replacement in cash, trimmed the cash outlay for new emergency radios in favor of more lease financing, and dropped two proposed administrative positions along with any CIFI funding for the year. It passed 7 to 3, with Commissioners Chuck Stites (Dist. 7), Kump, and Bill Burns (Dist. 2) opposed. The board then adopted the amended 2026 and 2027 county budgets on the same 7 to 3 split.

Commissioner Phil Lopez (Dist. 6) questioned whether the emergency radios needed replacing at all, saying firefighters had told him the existing equipment worked fine. Director of Emergency Management Jennifer Tarwater said the technology is aging out. “They are reaching end of life,” she said. Chief Financial Officer Shelley Kneuvean added that the underlying system is on a hard deadline. “The system will shut down in 29,” she said, describing a roughly $14 million project that must be financed over several years and completed before 2029.

City budget passes on the mayor’s vote

The city side followed the same logic, with a larger hole. Without a mill increase, the city general fund faced a $1.97 million gap between expenses and revenue. An early motion by Commissioner Melissa Bynum (At-Large Dist. 1) to hold the rate flat and send the leftover roughly $84 thousand back into reserves failed 3 to 7.

The debate then centered on the economic development department, which the proposed budget had grown by two positions. Davis pushed to protect that investment as a way to bring in revenue over time. “We’re going to need expertise to make that happen,” he said. Commissioner Jermaine Howard (Dist. 1) agreed.

Commissioner Christian Ramirez (Dist. 3) moved to adopt the flat-rate city budget and put the remaining $84 thousand toward funding an additional economic development position. The motion split the board 5 to 5, and Watson broke the tie in its favor. Commissioners Carlos Pacheco (Dist. 5), Lopez, Stites, Kump, and Burns voted no. The plan leans more heavily on overtime to staff the fire department as federal SAFER grants expire, and it defers some police server and hazmat spending.

Pacheco pressed staff during the debate on how the city would keep fire staffing once the SAFER grants run out. Staff confirmed the budget carries 12 new positions against 17 expiring ones and relies on overtime to cover the difference, a model Pacheco said drove his vote.

The staffing question had run through the Aug. 24 hearing as well, where firefighters union representatives warned the board about thin crews. “Staffing is a public safety issue,” Local 64 President J.J. Simma had told the commission. In a statement issued after Thursday’s meeting, Pacheco said the plan broke a promise he made to voters and argued that leaning on overtime raises fatigue, strains retention, and can increase risk. “I will not support cuts to police and fire,” he wrote, quoting his own words from last year’s budget debate. He also renewed his push for what he calls a CARE plan, a valuation rebate modeled on circuit-breaker programs used in other states, aimed at returning money to homeowners whose appraisals spike faster than their incomes.

A new fee at the DMV

Before the budget votes, the commission approved a $3 increase in the transaction fee for vehicle registration and renewal, raising the total to $8. The measure passed 8 to 2, with Stites and Kump opposed.

Kansas requires counties to run motor vehicle offices but does not fully fund them, and the county has covered about $1.5 million of that cost through property taxes. State law now lets counties recover the expense through fees, up to $10. The county already charges $5 administratively; the $3 approved Thursday brings it to full cost recovery of roughly $387 thousand a year. Ramirez said the change shifts the burden off the general fund. “It’ll help make the DMV self-sufficient,” he said.

Kneuvean told the board that 88 of the state’s 105 counties already charge the base $5, and that Johnson, Sedgwick, Shawnee, and Leavenworth counties have voted to go to the full $10. Staff noted the $3 portion is authorized for only two years, which will require a return to the Legislature. Davis framed the trade-off plainly. “It’s going to be paid for. The question is how are we going to pay for it?” he said. Without the fee, staff said, the county would face a $378 thousand shortfall and would have to borrow for emergency radios rather than pay cash. A new line management system meant to speed short transactions goes live Nov. 15.

Storm recovery and an extended emergency

The commission voted 10 to 0 to extend the local state of emergency through Oct. 15 as the county continues to clean up from a recent storm. Tarwater said crews are hauling between two and three thousand cubic yards of debris a day and have removed more than 25 thousand cubic yards so far. Volunteer chainsaw crews from across the country are still cutting down damaged trees, and two workers have been injured in the effort.

Staff said Wyandotte County was the only Kansas county to sustain damage from the storm and is seeking a presidential declaration to unlock federal public assistance for debris removal and infrastructure repair.

Downtown district up for renewal

The board held a required public hearing on renewing the downtown Self-Supported Municipal Improvement District for another 10 years. No vote was taken Thursday; a 30-day layover pushes adoption to Oct. 15.

The district taxes commercial properties within its downtown boundaries to pay for cleaning, security, and marketing, and it is managed by the Downtown Shareholders of Kansas City, Kansas. SSMID Chairman Edwin Burch urged the commission to keep investing. “We cannot give up on downtown KCK,” he said, pointing to the redevelopment of the former UMB bank building and the purchase of the Brotherhood building as signs of momentum. “I believe downtown KCK is worth fighting for,” he said. Executive Director Don Ratan told the board the group now funds a dedicated KCK police officer downtown at about $89 thousand a year and recently added money for biohazard cleaning.

Other business

The commission also approved the 2027 budget for the Board of Public Utilities payment-in-lieu-of-taxes rate on a 7 to 3 vote, and adopted revenue-neutral budgets for the downtown district and the Wyandotte County Library Board, both 10 to 0. The district budget takes effect only if the board votes next month to renew the SSMID.

On the consent agenda, approved 10 to 0, the board accepted a federal COPS hiring grant of about $4.4 million to fund 12 patrol officer positions, along with several smaller public safety grants and a fleet services training agreement with the Turner school district. The commission amended its meeting schedule to add an Oct. 1 session for planning and zoning cases, and named Howard and Assistant County Administrator Rodney Lucas as delegates to the League of Kansas Municipalities conference.

As the budget wrapped, Watson thanked the board and the staff for a long night. “I know we disagree, but I love it when we agree to disagree,” she said. The commission then moved into two executive sessions, one on attorney-client matters tied to economic development and one on personnel, before adjourning.