“Fairway City Council raises property tax levy 44.8 percent” plus 2 more |
- Fairway City Council raises property tax levy 44.8 percent
- Tax rolls confirm revenue reduction
- Bell Property Owners Were Overcharged by $2.9 Million
| Fairway City Council raises property tax levy 44.8 percent Posted: 13 Aug 2010 08:38 AM PDT
By LINDA CRUSEAnd JIM SULLINGERSpecial to The StarThe Kansas City StarThe Fairway City Council voted Thursday night to raise its property tax levy 44.8 percent to make up for a projected $450,000 budget shortfall next year. Prior to the 5-3 vote, residents spent two hours urging the city to make budget cuts rather than increase taxes. They also recommended using $200,000 from the city's reserve fund to reduce the amount of the mill levy increase. It was the fourth time public input was received on the budget. "I expect reductions in city staff," said Larry Smith, a Fairway resident. "It's not fun, but it's necessary." Mike McAlister also favored cutting city staff. He said staff cuts wouldn't take effect for four-and-a-half months. "Do the right thing now and get it over with to bring expenses in line with revenue," he said. The city's mill levy will increase from 12.853 to 18.612 mills. The owner of an average Fairway home appraised at $312,000 will pay $206 more in city taxes next year. The city levy represents 10 percent of a homeowner's total tax bill and does not include taxes owed to Johnson County and the Shawnee Mission School District. The council was divided on using the city's reserve fund to lower the mill levy increase. An amendment to the motion to approve the budget by reducing the city's reserve fund failed. Council members opposed to the 44.8 percent increase were Anthony Liu, Gail Gregory and Jim Poplinger. Liu said sufficient creativity had not been used in seeking budget solutions. Gregory said that she had compassion for Fairway residents impacted by the economy. Poplinger said that government needed to be pruned back. The city's finance committee met Thursday morning to reduce a previously proposed tax rate. At one point in the budget process, the council was looking at tax rate increase of almost $8.77 on each $1,000 of assessed property valuation — an increase of 68 percent over this year's levy. That was later reduced to a $7.13 increase on each $1,000 of assessed value. The city's finance committee reduced that even further before the council meeting to about $6 on each $1,000 or an increase of 47 percent in the tax levy. The budget approved by the council Thursday night put the increase at $5.76 on each $1,000. During the finance committee's meeting, Councilwoman Melanie Hepperly, head of the committee, charged department heads with making about $30,000 in budget cuts. Department heads announced Thursday night that they had found ways to make those cuts; however, the council opted not to make a $7,600 cut in the police department. The council did agree to the temporary elimination of the city match of $30,600 slated for one of the city's employee retirement funds. No cuts were made in city staff or salaries. Without the mill levy increase, Hepperly said city services such as street repair would have to be cut severely. "It is the council's intent to maintain Fairway as we know it today as the quality city it is," she said. "We're going to do everything we can to maintain the services at that level and do them as cost effectively as we possibly can." She said the budget process had been a difficult one this year. "We as a council don't want to raise taxes," she added. The proposed general fund budget is $3,560,899, which includes a $90,875 contingency fund or reserve. That represents a decrease of $102,596 in general fund spending compared with the amount budgeted for this year. The financial problems facing the city are a result of the recession and property values that are not rising. City officials said sales tax collections dropped 10.4 percent in 2009 and were projected to decrease 16.27 percent this year. While revenue has been decreasing, health care and energy costs have been rising. Electricity has gone up 16 percent this year, and health-care costs increased 13 percent. The cost of providing health insurance for city workers is projected to increase 16 percent next year. Since 2008, general fund revenue has decreased $764,828 from $4.32 million to a projected $3.56 million for 2011. To reach Jim Sullinger, call 816-234-7701 or send e-mail to jsullinger@kcstar.com. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Tax rolls confirm revenue reduction Posted: 12 Aug 2010 10:47 PM PDT Certified property tax rolls were released on Thursday, with The Colony officially bringing in $2.1 billion. Though there was new construction in town last year with a taxable value of approximately $53 million, existing values decreased by about $105 million, resulting in a net reduction of $51.9 million, Finance Director Rebecca Lai said./File photo The final numbers are in, and the city of The Colony is facing a 2.4-percent reduction in property tax revenue for the next fiscal year.The certified tax rolls were released on Thursday, with The Colony officially bringing in $2.1 billion in property taxes. Though there was new construction in town last year with a taxable value of approximately $53 million, existing values decreased by about $105 million, resulting in a net reduction of $51.9 million, Finance Director Rebecca Lai said. Despite the dip, no one is pushing the panic button at City Hall. Lai said the city has been planning ahead for months in anticipation of a decline in tax revenue. �We have been working to reduce the budget so as to bring everything to a balanced budget,� Lai said. Reductions have included the elimination of 14 staff positions as well as line-items within city departments.Lai said no more personnel layoffs are planned, and because the cuts are coming from within city departments, residents should not notice a difference in terms of services. �The little bits that we have to change are coming out of departments� line-items without affecting personnel or services. We are trying to maintain the same level of services. It�s difficult but we are working on it,� she said. �No program has been cut.� Once approved by the city council, the budget will be officially adopted on Sept. 21. A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 17 at City Hall, at which residents are encouraged to attend and share their opinions on the financial direction of the city. City staff members will make a formal presentation of the proposed budget, which includes a .25-cent reduction to the tax rate, at the next city council meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday. A public hearing specifically related to the tax rate is scheduled for 7 p.m. Sept. 7. Once finalized, the budget will take effect at the start of the next fiscal year, Oct. 1. The following are comments from the readers. You must register with a valid email to post comments. Registered users sign in here: This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Bell Property Owners Were Overcharged by $2.9 Million Posted: 13 Aug 2010 12:54 PM PDT  (KTLA-TV) BELL -- Property owners in the City of Bell were overcharged $2.9 million dollars over the past three years and the city may have to return the money to residents, according to the state controller. State Controller John Chiang said Friday Bell charged higher property tax rates than allowed by State law. The overcharges were discovered during the initial phase of the Controller's audit into Bell's finances. "While my investigation into the City of Bell continues, these unlawful taxes must stop immediately," Chiang said. 'Homeowners and property owners should not pay the price for poor fiscal management." Chaing says that Bell's City Council began raising property tax rates in 2007 to pay for pension obligations, even though State law caps those taxes at the rate used in fiscal year 1983-84. Property taxpayers saw their assessments for pension obligations rise from .1875545 in 2007 to .277554% in 2010. Chaing is calling for the County to reduce the property tax rates as quickly as possible. The lower rates would deliver, for example, an estimated $250 in annual savings on a property worth $275,000. Bell interim city manager Pedro Carillo says he's working to put a resolution lowering the tax rate before the City Council on Monday. Carillo says it's not clear yet whether the money will be returned to property owners. It could go to the state. The audit follows an outcry over huge salaries paid to Bell officials. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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