LAST WEEK DURING the Lyon County Commission meeting, Lyon County Extension Board president Brian Creager answered questions from the community about the proposal to combine Lyon and Chase County into an extension district. If county commissioners in both counties approve the plan, the new district would have the ability to levy its own tax to help fund operations.
Apparently Lyon County commissioners encouraged Lyon County extension to look into levying a tax when the county commission was struggling with its 2010 budget earlier this year.
Creager said if the plan passes, the district board will use the new tax money to improve and enhance services. It would also allow the new district to fill two vacant positions.
Tax increases have never been popular in our area, but this proposal has not been drawing much opposition. A few individuals have been quietly trickling into our office to voice their displeasure, but it does not seem that any one person or group is stepping forward to carry a petition to get required signatures to put the issue on the ballot.
Typically most businesses don’t favor tax increases.
We talked with the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce, whose motto is to represent the voice of Emporia business community. Chamber officials said their board has not discussed the proposal, but they would likely neither endorse nor support this proposal. Instead, the chamber would just pass along the information to their members.
So how much would the new extension tax cost? At the present time, those proposing the extension district would like to raise $20,000 which is only 57 cents a year per Lyon County taxpayer.
Extension agents do a great job in our community — everything from learning about cooking, horticulture, agriculture and 4-H. They help make our community a better place, and we are pleased to run their columns every week in the paper. An increase of 57 cents a year is not much, and we are sure most people would be willing to pay it.
But one fear that people have expressed is allowing another entity to have taxing authority.
Right now the county, cities and townships and school districts have taxing authority. In addition, recreation commissions — Emporia and Southern Lyon County — can levy taxes, but have to work under the umbrella of their sponsoring school districts. If county commissioners pass this proposal, the extension district would have the same taxing power as the county, cities and townships and school districts.
In normal budget times, all the taxing entities have been responsible. But the question becomes what would happen if the state became bankrupt and all the entities enacted their maximum mill levies? This could put taxpayers in a difficult situation.
Although having the state go bankrupt may seem unlikely, it is a situation that is playing out in California right now.
With the county commission asking the Lyon County extension board to look at ways to increase its funding, it is hard to know what message the county commission is sending.
If commissioners don’t want to pay for extension services out of the county budget, do they think that taxpayers should not be supporting extension services? And if commissioners think taxpayers should be supporting extension services, then the obvious question is — why don’t commissioners just pay for it under the umbrella of the county levy as they have been doing?
It seems to be a bit of taxpayer shell game.
At the meeting last week, people voiced other concerns, including problems with sharing services with another county, problems with breaking up the contract if it doesn’t work out and what to do if other agencies want to join the district.
It’s important to have community discussion, especially when it involves new taxes. What do you think?
Let the commissioners know your opinion because time is running out. You can also write or e-mail us your letters to the editor. At the right, we have two views on the topic — one supporting the district and one against.
Chris Walker
Editor & Publisher
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
Well Chris,
A good story for the Gazette would be to run a story on the excisting 9 districts that have been formed in Kansas and report whether their mill-levy/taxes have been raised since they were formed.
Just a thought.
October 1, 2009 at 8:04 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )