A vote to approve an agreement that would allow Lyon County Extension and Research to combine with the Frontier Extension District came close Thursday but was tabled at the last minute. Commissioners will now make the decision on Jan. 5.
Joining the Frontier District would allow the two agencies to share services and would give them unlimited taxing authority. It also would mean Lyon County taxpayers would see an increase in taxes, though supporters of the district say the hike would be minimal and the payoff would benefit the county.
After an hour-long public hearing that at times was tense, commissioners were set to vote on the resolution when County Attorney Marc Goodman called a legal executive session to discuss the issue. When commissioners reconvened, they announced that they would table the motion.
Commissioner Rollie Martin, who made the original motion to approve the resolution, moved to table the decision.
“Given the commissioners authorized a waiver of their privilege, counsel has determined that there is an inconsistency in the resolution and advised and counseled the commission to table this for two weeks,” Goodman said.
In approving a resolution, Martin explained, the commission is in effect “agreeing with the agreement.”
“We have not seen the agreement between the Frontier District and Lyon County Extension,” he said. “In order to be thorough and transparent, we advise the board of Lyon County Extension and the Frontier board to put together their operational agreement so that could be reviewed by commission and counsel.”
The issue was brought before the commission after an invitation by the Frontier District for Lyon County Extension to join. The Frontier District was formed last year when the extensions of Osage and Franklin County combined.
The Frontier District is the 11th of 14 extension districts that have formed in Kansas since 1991, when county extensions were given the authority to combine. If Lyon County joins the district its four agents will join the district’s five agents and one program assistant. County commissioners would appoint four board members for the district, after which the board members would be elected by a public vote.
One issue addressed by members of the public at Thursday’s public hearing is concern about giving the district taxing authority. To combine with counties with lower valuations than Lyon County would mean higher taxes for county residents, an issue that came up in 2009 when there was discussion about forming an extension district with Chase County.
“That would be a good question,” Bob Davis asked at the public hearing. “How is our valuation compared to the two other counties?”
“They are actually fairly close,” Brian Rees, Lyon County Extension agent, said.
Lyon County’s current valuation is $228 million, while Franklin County’s is $207 million, according to Tammy Vopat, county clerk.
Brian Creager, board chairman of Lyon County Extension, noted that it’s likely that the population of Franklin County has been growing and may soon surpass that of Lyon County.
Martin pointed out that in previous discussions on forming a district with Coffey County, the differences in county valuation would have been a $111,000 difference in the two.
Another issue was the fact that in a district, the extension agents would be shared, while remaining independent would mean more time for the Lyon County agents to remain in the county.
“Is it right to ask Lyon County taxpayers to continue paying the same amount or more and have less services?” asked Carl Antes, a former board member for Lyon County Extension.
“But on the flip side, those agents in the other counties will be coming back here,” Creager said.
“But currently there are agents who cross county lines to help other counties,” Antes said. “That just makes sense. ... Fiscally, it isn’t fair to ask our taxpayers to pay more and have access to less agents.”
A district would allow the combined agencies to focus on more specialization so they wouldn’t be spread so thin, Creager said. That would allow for better, more focused programming.
“Also, they could share that expertise with everybody,” he said.
As fellow taxpayers, Rees argued, the district board members would not be likely to tax the county more than would be beneficial to its residents.
“As taxpayers, I really feel that I don’t want to have to pay any more taxes than I have to,” he said. “But I also feel, as a taxpayer, that I get more out of extension than I do out of many other entities for the mill levies that are being levied. ... I feel that extension is a good value for the taxes they are receiving.”
The district board would have the power to levy taxes, which led Bobbie Agler to ask whether the board members would be chosen in a general election.
Briggs explained that at first the board members would be chosen by the county commission and after that they would be elected with a public vote.
Agler also argued that since the county already provides extension with a tax appropriation, creating a separate board and giving it tax authority does not justify the cost.
“My concern is that if we keep expanding those entities that can levy their own taxes on the general populace, that’s consistently proven not to be the best thing in the world for the populace,” Agler said. “Because the mill levies keep going up, regardless of what the entity is.”
“This mill levy we’re talking about, has it been a problem in other districts?” asked Trevor Reese.
“No, not if you look at the 20-year history of districts, no,” Creager said.
“Why are we talking about it then?” Reese said. “If it’s not been a problem before, then why is it going to be now?”
Addressing concerns he’s heard from the public, Briggs said there seem to be two recurring themes: timing and taxes.
“The first question that keeps recurring is, ‘What’s the rush? Why now?’” he said. “Can we push it off? Not kick the can down the road because we need to make a decision. ... And the taxing authority is scaring people to death. That is a recurring theme that I keep getting calls about.”
“As board members, we actually don’t think this was rushed,” Creager said. “... They approached us and we felt like it was a good fit. ...”
Martin, who represents the county on the extension board, said the process began with the Chase County discussions in 2009. With that deal, he said, the risk was too much and the opportunity was too little.
“Here, opportunity knocked when the Frontier District said, ‘Come over and we can start our negotiation,’” he said. “Then the invitation came to join the district, and that was opportunity. And our risk was very minimal. ... There is little risk but more opportunity to have more access to agents and so on.”
As far as taxing authority, Martin asked how many of the 52 boards in the county with taxing authority have ever had complaints about over-taxing.
“I am in favor of forming this district,” Martin said. “The risk is low and the opportunity is great.”
Commissioner Teresa Walters said she viewed this as a democratic process.
“In passing a resolution, people can, and should, educate themselves and weigh in,” she said. “After the second publication of the resolution the public has a 60-day period, where if they write their name on the line of a petition saying they are against this, they have that right. The process worked as it should.”
Briggs expressed support for the extension, but continued to question whether the vote should be put off a while.
“I would like to have the support of the whole community,” he said. “I just wonder if that’s not the wise way to do it.”
Martin moved to approve the resolution and Walters seconded.
The commissioners will vote on the resolution on Jan. 5 at 10 a.m. in the Lyon County Commission chambers.