County: Defeat of sales tax would mean higher property taxes

The message from the Johnson County contingent to Olathe city councilmembers Tuesday about the quarter-cent sales tax renewal was clear: Without it, more will come from the pockets of county residents who pay property taxes.

County Commission Chair Annabeth Surbaugh said if voters don’t approve the lifetime tax — which would generate nearly $20 million annually to ease the county’s public safety woes — property taxes will increase.

Voters will decide on the tax when they go to the polls for the Aug. 5 primary.

Surbaugh said county visitors will contribute 30 percent to that annual figure, easing the burden on area taxpayers.

The tax would pay for some capital and operational costs for county public safety projects including a jail expansion, new crime laboratory and new juvenile services complex.

“This community and the communities in Johnson County have always said public safety is very important to them,” Sheriff Frank Denning said. “They will fund it, they will support it, but they expect results. I think we’ve given them results.”

Denning said alternatives to incarceration like work-release and bond-supervision programs for low-risk offenders have helped keep the number of daily inmates down, but as the county’s population increases so does crime.

But, he said, Johnson County has one of the lowest crime rates in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

For that trend to continue, Denning said, the county needed an investment from taxpayers.

“You’re preaching to the choir here,” Mayor Mike Copeland said. “We know in Olathe public safety is job one. We have the best streets, the best parks, the best whatever. If people don’t feel safe, it’s all for naught. We work very hard to make sure that’s an important area of our operation that we pay special attention to.”

The tax was approved in 2002 and renewed three years later. The county has given its two-thirds of the revenue to school districts in the county. The county now wants to use it for public safety.

The remaining third will continue to go to the county’s cities. Olathe gave its portion, about $2.3 million annually, to schools, but the city has the discretion to use the money as it sees fit.

The Olathe school district, which will lose $5.4 million annually if the tax is approved for public safety, is the only district that is opposed to giving up the tax revenue.

“When we granted the sales tax to the schools, it was made with every admonition that we intended it to take it back,” said Surbaugh, who added that the Kansas Legislature was responsible for funding schools.

Surbaugh asked that councilmembers decide what to spend their share on and let the county know as soon as possible to put it on its Web site. For more information, visit www.jocogov.org/salestax/default.htm.