‘Many of us are struggling financially’: Olathe Council rejects property tax increase

The Olathe City Council on Tuesday rejected a proposed property tax increase, which would have helped fund the new downtown library.

The council voted 6-1 to reject city staff’s proposal and instead keep the property tax rate flat for 2022. Council members said they had been flooded with messages from residents urging them not to raise taxes, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Many of us are struggling financially,” Councilwoman Marge Vogt said. “While I’m not an advocate for kicking the can down the road to other councils or taxpayers, creating a burden for the future, I do believe after really looking at the budget and evaluating it, that we can hold the mill levy and fund the library without the proposed increase.”

Olathe homeowners can expect to see their overall taxes increase regardless, due to rising home valuations.

Councilman Kevin Gilmore was the lone no vote, arguing that the city should go further and reduce the mill levy.

The proposal included a 3.5% increase, a jump of less than one mill, to support the library fund. City staff recommended raising the library budget by more than 25% to pay for construction and operation of the new 45,000-square-foot downtown library, as well as operation of the Indian Creek Library.

The tax increase would have amounted to $1.9 million in additional revenue for the libraries.

That would have equated to about $30 more in city taxes each year for a homeowner with an average house priced at $307,000, spokesman Cody Kennedy said.

Without the tax increase, Kennedy said that funding the downtown library, as well as operating the Indian Creek Library, will require pushing back some capital improvement projects. Many of those projects include road and infrastructure improvements.

The city broke ground on the new $25 million downtown library this past weekend. The four-story building, on East Santa Fe Street, will include a creative lab, reading and study spaces, a coffee shop and new offices for the Olathe Chamber of Commerce. The project is expected to be completed in early 2023, according to a city news release.

Councilman Larry Campbell voted in favor of keeping the mill levy flat, but warned of the future consequences.

“Here in Olathe, the mill levy has not gone up since 1995. And with that, we are kicking the can down the road. This is not responsible,” Campbell said. “We have thousands of folks involved in the library, wanting the library. … It is a terrible time, the pandemic, this is a terrible time for it to go up. … But we are kicking the can down the road. It is a reasonable increase.”