Sales tax draws criticism

When Johnson County voters go to the polls Aug. 5, they’ll decide whether a quarter-cent sales tax will be used for public safety. Opponents and proponents of the tax discussed some of the gray details of the plan at a public forum Thursday night at the Tomahawk Ridge Community Center in Overland Park.

The panelists were tax activist Wayne Flaherty, Johnson County Commissioners David Lindstrom and John Segale, activist Tracy Thomas, Sheriff Frank Denning and private citizen Charlotte O’Hara. NewsRadio 980 KMBZ midmorning talk show host Darla Jaye moderated the forum.

The forum was presented by the Sunflower Republican Club.

Segale, Denning and Lindstrom each spoke in support of the tax, while Flaherty, Thomas and O’Hara argued against it.

Segale said he voted in 2005 to raise the mill levy three-fourths of a point to pay for public safety projects with the understanding that the quarter-cent sales tax (which is currently being used for schools) would expire and that the tax could be renewed for public safety projects.

“I didn’t expect while I was on the board to raise the mill again (after 2005),” Segale said. “I expected that the cost would go to a sales tax. I think we are where we thought we’d be.”

O’Hara brought up a similar tax passed in 1995 that was to be used to build a medium-security jail and Sheriff’s Department. She said the public was “hoodwinked” by that tax as 15 percent of it went to facilities, the rest to operating costs and a mandatory portion to cities within the county.

“I think we need to go back when we have facilities that need to be constructed, it needs to be a bond issue like we did back in 1985 so there’s a definitive requirement for how our tax dollars are being spent instead of just poking it into the door because of poor management by the county commissioners,” O’Hara said.

Segale said a bond election wasn’t pertinent to the projects mentioned in the ballot.

“Bonds can only be legally used to build buildings and construct roads in Kansas,” Segale said. “We’re talking about operating costs.”

Denning said tax support was needed to help expand and maintain the current jails in the county. The sales tax also would help fund a crime lab.

All three of the tax’s opponents noted the lack of a sunset on the tax. Flaherty told an anecdote about reading a newspaper in heaven with a headline about the tax expiring and a colorful description of it.

“It said, ‘Hell freezes over’. That’s when this thing will end, when hell freezes over and not one second before,” Flaherty said. “That’s a terrible legacy to leave. Don’t do it to your kids, your grandkids or anybody else.”

Jaye asked the forum why a “no sunset” approach was deemed acceptable instead of a 10-year or 20-year expiration commonly seen in city taxes.

Lindstrom answered by saying that he supported adding a sunset to the tax when it was being considered, but said that the tax was a step in the right direction. Segale said that counties provide funding differently than cities do, and that because the sales tax would largely support operating costs, the funding always would be required and a no-sunset tax best fits that obstacle.

“If we have a sunset on this tax, we will have to have a reserve to get us by in case the tax fails,” Segale said. “That’s how we’re making the budget for 2009, using the reserve.”

Beyond the issue of a sunset, the other main point of contention during the forum was the “Plan B” as Thomas called it. Denning went to Topeka and legislated and received a sales tax bill with a 10-year sunset that would cover operational costs of the crime lab. The bill would have to be brought forward by the Johnson County Commission and would have to be supported by the voters should the current proposed tax fail.

Thomas, who spoke most outwardly in opposition to the tax, challenged Denning to explain why the “Plan B” wasn’t being hailed as a top choice.

“The county commissioners are kind of shooting at your feet, saying ‘Dance, Frank, dance’,” Thomas said. “They want you out here passing this in August.”

Denning said he was bringing forward public safety infrastructure needs specific to the Sheriff’s Department.

“I’m sitting here tonight telling you the same thing that I will tell these people here, that we have certain challenges we have to meet. Have to meet,” Denning said. “I said this in 2005 and I say it today: It costs money to do justice.”

Lindstrom said Denning’s effort to gain funding shouldn’t be compared directly with the proposed quarter-cent tax.

“I think it’s also important to note that the decision that the sheriff made to work with the Legislature to give authority came before the schools had relinquished their interest in this quarter-cent sales tax to the county,” Lindstrom said.