Johnson County’s plan to extend a quarter-cent public safety sales tax is illegal because it changes what the proceeds would be used for, the Kansas attorney general warns in a written opinion.
The state’s most populous county, nestled in the Kansas City area, was granted authority by the state in 2016 to levy the tax until 2026, with approval by voters, “for the purpose of financing the construction and operation costs of public safety projects …”
The Legislature listed, as examples of eligible projects, “a jail, detention center, sheriff’s resource center, crime lab or other county administrative or operational facility dedicated to public safety.”
But in seeking to place an extension of the tax on this November’s ballot, the county has said it would use the additional revenues for such things as mental health services and ongoing emergency medical services.
“Johnson County is breaking the law by imposing this new tax for this purpose,” AG Kris Kobach announced in a press release Tuesday.
“Because the resolution tries to fund measures that do not qualify as public safety projects and it would fund different projects than that for which the existing tax was enacted,” Kobach explained in his official written opinion, “a court would find that the Board has exceeded its authority and that the resolution is null and void.”
The county sounded skeptical of Kobach’s opinion, but said in a written statement it is reviewing it.
“While the opinion does not carry the force of law and is not binding on courts or other entities, the Board of County Commissioners is reviewing and considering its content,” the county said.
Extending the tax would raise some $54 million a year, the county says, “which would be split between the county (64%) and Johnson County cities (36%) according to state statute.”
As expressed in a May 8 press release announcing the commission’s decision to put the issue on the November ballot, the county appears to believe the extension is valid because it would pay for “a wide variety of public safety programs.”
The programs cited by the county are:
- Emergency Medical/Ambulance Services (MED-ACT)
- Sheriff’s Office
- Mental Health Crisis Intervention
- Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response
- Department of Corrections
- District Courts and District Attorney’s Office
“Johnson County has experienced significant population growth over the past 15 years, with an especially rapid increase in residents aged 65 and older,” Commission Chairman Mike Kelly said in the press release. “This demographic shift has created increasing demands on our public safety infrastructure.
“Renewing an existing public safety sales tax allows us to continue funding essential services without increasing the property tax burden on residents.”
Kobach’s position is that the law authorizing the tax in 2016 was written to fund facilities, not programs.
The AG’s opinion – contained in a letter to state Sen. Mike Thompson, who had asked for it – notes that local sales tax authority is subject to “limitations and prohibitions,” and that “any resolution adopted by a county which conflicts with the restrictions … is null and void.”
Thompson also opposes the addition to residents’ tax burden.
“An additional sales tax places a burden on everyone in the county, not just consumers,” the AG’s press release quotes Thompson as saying. “The more prices go up, the less people buy. It dampens economic activity.
“This is just another example of a county board that’s out of control. It doesn’t seek to limit spending and protect the taxpayers. Hopefully, this opinion will encourage the board to reconsider, particularly at this time when every other tax keeps going up.”
