Commissioners of Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City next week will consider a proposal to increase the property tax rate by 8.9% to generate $117.5 million for the city and $4.9 million for county operations.
County administrator Dennis Hays said the higher rate is needed to compensate for losses in state revenue and declines in assessed valuations.
“The Unified Government will not be collecting any more tax dollars than it did in 2008, a year when tax rates were at the lowest point in a decade,” Hays told commissioners. “In fact, on average, taxpayers will still pay less than they did in 2008.”
Hays said the tax on a home valued at $86,300 home in the county was $702 in 2009, but would be only $677 next year at the proposed higher rate.
The government next year will have to begin paying the salaries for 37 public safety employees who had been paid by a federal grant that will expire in June 2012, he said.
Hays’ proposed budget would increase the general reserve fund to $3.6 million from the current $2.4 million. The fund was at $31.6 million in fiscal 2006.
The county administrator said the larger fund is needed to protect the government’s credit rating. The $262.8 million of outstanding general obligation debt is rated Aa3 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA by Standard & Poor’s.
“A lower rating will result in significant increases when bonds are issued to build streets, sidewalks and other infrastructure,” Hays said. “In the long run, taxpayers could end up paying 10% more to borrow money for such projects.”
