Small Town News

Governments seek to hold line during difficult tax year, but some increases necessary

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Despite declarations that the recession may be wrapping up, area economies have yet to see a full jump start, and most local governing boards have responded accordingly as they set their 2011 mill levies.

Several of Wabaunsee County's cities have decreased their levies and those that haven't have made very modest proposed increases, with the highest hike totaling 0.546, or just over half a mill, in Harvey ville. This increase will take Harvey ville from 47.168 mills to 47.714 mills.

This means the owner of a house in Harveyville that held a stable value at $100.000 from 2009 to 2010 would pay an additional $6.28 in city property taxes, and Harveyville officials noted that most area properties are not in the $100.000 range.

Other cities witii proposed increases include Paxico, with an increase of 0.239 mills from 36.317 to 36.556, Eskridge, with an increase of 0.076, from 46.990 to 47.066 and Alma, with an increase of 0.004 mills from 40.869 to 40.873.

McFarland had the biggest decrease with its mill levy plunging almost 10 percent, or down 3.682 from 37.965 to 34.283.

Also decreasing their mill levies were Maple Hill, with a decrease of 0.546 from 28.130 to 27.562, Alta Vista, down 0.507 from 51.103 to 50.596 and Lake Wabaunsee Improvement District, down 0.400 from 15.936 to 15.536.

Alta Vista has the highest city mill levy in the county and is the only city to levy more than 50 mills. Harveyville comes in second, followed closely by Eskridge, with both towns levying mills in the upper 40s. Alma is in the middle with a null levy of just over 40. Paxico, McFarland and Maple Hill trail with mill levies in the 30s and 20s, respectively, and Lake Wabaunsee Improvement District is lower than any city with a proposed 2011 mill levy of 15.536.

Both of Wabaunsee County's school districts saw slight decreases, with USD 329 - Mill Creek Valley down 0.431 from 58.755 to 58.324 and USD 330 - Mission Valley down 0.015 from 55.544 to 55.529.

The only significant mill levy increase came from Wabaunsee County, which has worked to keep increases to a minimum for a number of years.Commissioners decided this year they could not continue to hold the mill to a minimum and opted for an increase of approximately 4.9 mills, or $56.35 for the owner of a $100.000 home.

County Clerk Jennifer Savage said attempts to be frugal in previous years resulted in this year's increase.

"The past few years the commissioners have 'held the line, ' which unfortunately has depleted the cash carryover for the General Fund, making it necessary to either increase the levy or reduce or cut services."

However, a number of factors can affect how much increase or decrease actually is reflected in the checks homeowners write.

One way local governments can keep mill levies the same or decrease levies while not losing tax dollars is by taking advantage of valuation increases.

Each year properties are assessed by the county appraiser, who must assign a value within a designated range of the statewide average, and often values increase, which equals the ability to bring in a few extra dollars without raising the mill levy, or the ability to lower the mill levy without decreasing the amount brought in.

This method does not necessarily result in lower tax dollars paid out by individual property owners, but gives the appearance of the lack of a tax hike on a wider scale, with the burden then being placed on those whose properties increased in value.

The appraiser assigns values to properties according to type, with residential and commercial property values based on sale prices of similar properties in the area. Agricultural land is based a several-year average of use values, and oil and gas are based on an assigned price per barrel.

These appraised numbers are then assessed at percentages varying from 11.5 percent to 30 percent, according to type, and the county's final assessed valuation is figured accordingly.

Appraiser Bobby Miller said residential property is assessed at 11.5 percent, vacant land at 12 percent, commercial property and agricultural buildings at 25 percent and agricultural land at 30 percent. He said other categories exist and also fall within that range.

He said everything that takes place in his office is dictated by the state.

"Pretty much everything I do is spelled out in Chapter 79 of the state statutes, " he said.

He said this includes assigning appraised values to properties, a task in which he must fall within .9 to 1.1 percent of the state average.

For example, a residential home appraised at $100.000, would be assessed at 11.5 percent, the assigned rate for residential property, meaning the property would reflect an assessed value of $11, 500. That assessed value then would be entered into a formula with the total number of mills levied on that particular taxing unit. For example, a $ 100.000 home assessed at 11.5 percent would have an assessed value of $11, 500, which, in some of the highest taxing units might be levied a total of 175 mills. In this case, $11, 500 x 0.175 = $2, 012.5 in property taxes.

However, residential property owners get another small break in the form of an exemption of $20, 000 of appraised value, which is not taxed by the school general fund. Savage said the exemption does not apply to other school funds such as capital outlay, general school supplement, bond and interest or to other taxing entities, but it does amount to a $46 discount on the total tax number.

The total tax number also results from the layering of taxing entities on the same property. The State of Kansas levies a small amount and all taxing units are subject to county, school district, township, fire district and ambulance taxes. They also may be covered by cities, watersheds, cemetery districts and others, resulting in up to 11 entities taxing the same piece of property in

some parts of the county.

Savage said in 2009 the highest mill levy total was for Taxing Unit 005 - Harveyville City, with a total of-172.462 mills, and final mill levies for 2010 will be set on Oct. 1, 2010.

As commissioners, council people and board members worked on their budgets this year, there wasn't much increased value to work with.

Savage said overall real estate values were essentially the same as last year's, with a total increase of $650.

Miller said some slight changes happened, with properties at Lake Wabaunsee up a bit in value (based on sale prices) and residential properties at the south end of the county in the Alta Vista, Eskridge and Harveyville areas down a little.

On the other hand, this year the county benefited from increases in state-assessed properties, which include ANR Pipeline, Blue Stem Electric, Wamego Telephone Co. and other similar corporations.

Other county-assessed properties saw overall decreases, with oil and gas increasing $88, 108, but with personal property decreasing $190, 122.

"If the state assessed property (property appraised by the State of Kansas and certified to the county) had not increased, we would have been in an extreme world of hurt, " Savage said. "However, with the state assessed property increase the overall increase was $1, 705, 034."

Both Savage and Miller stressed that they are aware the increase is difficult, but that commissioners did what they could to keep it as low as possible.

"People in this county do not realize how frugal these commissioners are, " Miller said. "Wabaunsee County does an awful lot on what little they have."

Savage said ultimately the county exists to serve its residents and she encouraged people to contact commissioners with ideas and suggestions.

"The county administers services provided to the citizens, " she said. "It is the citizens' budget, so please speak up, attend meetings, contact your commissioner. They will welcome suggestions, input and recommendations of where you would like to cut back."



Copyright 2010 The Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise, Alma, Kansas. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2011 The Wabaunsee County Signal-Enterprise Alma, Kansas. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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