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Archive for the ‘Olathe City Council’ Category

Update- Tale of Two Cities

Posted in Annexation, Commissioner Eilert, Home Rule Charter, JoCo Board of Commissioners, Kansas, Olathe City Council, Overland Park, Property Rights, Taxation, TEA Party Movement, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 13, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

THE PREDICTION

 

THE PREDICTED

Posted on Tue, Jul. 12, 2011 10:15 PM

Property tax hike advances in Overland Park

By BRAD COOPER

The Kansas City Star

Overland Park is positioned to approve a budget for 2012 that calls for a 4.1-mill property tax increase, the city’s first since 2004.

The City Council can still reduce the size of the tax increase between now and Aug. 15. But the council moved the budget forward on a unanimous vote Monday night without much discussion about the size of the tax increase.

A 4.1-mill tax increase would generate an extra $10 million a year for the city. It would cost the owner of a $200,000 home $94 more a year in property taxes. It was the higher of two tax options considered by the city. The other called for a 3.6 mill tax increase.

City administrators said the tax increase is needed to put more money into preserving aging city streets, hiring more police officers and replenishing the city’s rainy-day fund.

Without the tax increase, Overland Park would have to lay off 25 to 30 employees and slash spending on street maintenance to about $2 million a year from between $7 million and $8 million, City Manager Bill Ebel told the council.

Overland Park would also have to eliminate its neighborhood conservation program, which was created in 1991 to help sustain older neighborhoods without homes associations, Ebel said.

Even with the tax increase, the city is looking to close Roe Pool in 2012, charge admission to its arboretum and move to a less popular type of maintenance material called chip seal on streets that are more than 30 years old.

The city also plans to take $750,000 set aside for economic development incentives and put it back into the general fund. The account will be left with about $100,000.

Ebel recommended the tax increases to fix an imbalance between revenues and expenses that was brought about by the recession and refunds of state use taxes.

Overland Park has been spending down its reserves in recent years because it was hit with a series of use-tax refunds approved by the state.

Since the early part of the decade, the state has charged a use tax — essentially a sales tax — on out-of-area purchases and sent that money to cities.

However, in the last several years companies have reported they’ve been overcharged and have won refunds, which have hit the city’s reserves. Most of the overcharging comes when a company self reports its purchases and later revises the figures with the state, leading to the refunds, state officials said.

The state has granted $60 million in use tax refunds statewide from 2007 to 2010.

Overland Park will have spent its reserves down to $18 million or $19 million by the end this year. At the end of 2007, the city had an ending cash balance of about $63.9 million.

OVERLAND PARK

To reach Brad Cooper, call 816-234-7724 or send e-mail to bcooper@kcstar.com.

Posted on Tue, Jul. 12, 2011 10:15 PM

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/07/12/3009739/property-tax-hike-advances-in.html#ixzz1S2i1iTZ3 

 
 
“Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Anyone Who Threatens It”

Ken Dunwoody                                                           GOD
Henpecked Acres                                                        One Nation
14850 W. 159th St.
Olathe, Ks. 66062
(913)768-1603
kdunwoody2@aol.com www.NOlathe.com http://NOlathe.net http://NOjocoboco.net
View Sarah’s Story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUWuUvOZ7RY http://vimeo.com/23038312

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Making Sum Cents, Olathe School District

Posted in Education, Olathe City Council, Rest In Pieces Series, Senator Vratil, Taxation, TEA Party Movement, tagged , , , on December 20, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Several area School Districts recently raised mill levies for increased funding.  We chose to look at Olathe USD 233 as the School District is some what contained as the City of Olathe and we then measured changes from years 2000 to 2008.  Here is what we found.

Estimated Census population increased from 93,880 to 120,094 or 28.8%

Full Time Enrollment increased from 20,828 to 26,894 or 29.1%

Hispanic Population increased from 5,060 to 9,931 or 96.24%

‘Bilingual Education Funding’ increased from $531,770 to $2,696,500 or 407%

(NOTE: Census numbers are only as accurate as those that reported.)

That brought us to el ELL (The English Language Learners).  “In fact, one Kansas City school district has reported a 500 percent increase in its English learner population over the past three years. Area schools that have not historically served large numbers of English language learners are therefore facing the challenge of providing instruction for a more linguistically and culturally diverse student group.”   http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3112 

Kansas State Policy on the Education of ELL Students 

In response to both federal mandate and local demand, the Kansas State Legislature passed the Kansas Bilingual Education Act (KSA–72-9501 to 72-9510) in 1992. In the Act, the Legislature provided an addendum to the State education funding formula, which created the Bilingual Education Fund (now called ESOL/Bilingual).  Under the new funding formula, an additional 20% of the State’s annual per-pupil allocation would be provided to local school districts for each full-time-equivalent (FTE) student who was enrolled in a program of ESOL or Bilingual Education (KSDE, 1998).   The Act also charged KSDE with the responsibility of creating regulations for the administration of the act, including the development of policies and guidelines for the dispersion of these funds, which were to cover teacher education, training, and instructional improvement, as KSDE deemed best.  http://www.emporia.edu/emlj/modlan/esl/lawandpolicies.doc 

In 2002-2003, over 100 districts (more than one third of the 304 districts in Kansas), reported enrolling at least one ELL student. Furthermore, the increase in the number of native languages each subsequent year has also proven to be a trend. By the 2002-2003 school year there were over 100 native languages spoken by the ELL students in the state (KSDE, 2002).   http://www.emporia.edu/emlj/modlan/esl/lawandpolicies.doc

Question 49. What if the school district has just a few ELL students?
Answer: Even if only one ELL student is enrolled in the school district, the district must provide ESL services to the student.  http://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=100 

NOlathe Observation:  To educate those here illegally we build more schools, hire more staff, hire more educators, educate the educators to be bilingual, fund more KPERS, provide two free meals daily and educate them in their native language from age 3 to 21.  We have read estimates that as many as 30% state wide students are Spanish speakers.

NOlathe Observation:  For the 2007-2008 school year, Olathe USD 233 reported 26,894 FTE (Full Time Equiv).  The Kansas Dept of Education funded between 24,070 and 24,751 (two documents showed two numbers) or 2,143 less than USD 233 reported.  At $12,192 per pupil results in a difference of $26,127,456.  Other years show similar differences.  We tried it in Spanish and got the same results.  Or is there another set of books and who audits?

Sources:  http://www.ksde.org/Portals/0/School%20Finance/data_warehouse/total_expenditures/d0233exp.pdf   

http://www.ksde.org/Portals/0/School%20Finance/budget/Budget_at_a_Glance/08-09_Summary/BAG233-2009.pdf 

http://www.ksde.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1813     http://www.olathe.k12.ks.us/

http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en 

“Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation. It is better be alone than in bad company.”  George Washington

Ken Dunwoody                                     GOD
Henpecked Acres                                   One Nation
14850 W. 159th St.
Olathe, Ks. 66062
(913)768-1603
kdunwoody2@aol.com    www.NOlathe.com     http://NOlathe.net
View Sarah’s Story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUWuUvOZ7RY

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Overland Park- Four Years From Insolvency

Posted in Annexation, Olathe City Council, Overland Park, Property Rights, tagged , , , , , on June 3, 2010 | 3 Comments »

http://lims.jocogov.org/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=730&doctype=AGENDA

Presentation made to Johnson County Board of Commissioners June 3, 2010.  Starts 9 min 30 sec in to recording.

More graphs- http://nolathe.net/2010/06/01/a-tale-of-two-cities/ 

“The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted.” James Madison

Ken Dunwoody                                                     GOD
Henpecked Acres                                   One Nation
14850 W. 159th St.
Olathe, Ks. 66062
(913)768-1603
kdunwoody2@aol.com    www.NOlathe.com     http://NOlathe.net
View Sarah’s Story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUWuUvOZ7RY

Read Full Post »

A Tale of Two Cities

Posted in Annexation, JoCo Board of Commissioners, Olathe City Council, Overland Park, Property Rights, tagged , , , , , on June 1, 2010 | 3 Comments »

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way.”

In 2007 the City of Overland Park initiated unilateral (without owners’ consent) annexation of rural properties using KSA 12-521 http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-statutes/getStatute.do?number=3173.  In 2008 the City of Olathe initiated unilateral (without owners’ consent) annexation of rural properties using KSA 12-520 http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-statutes/getStatute.do?number=3169.  Both cities promised to provide “services equal to or better” than those provided by Johnson County.  Both cities promised to not raise taxes on either existing city residents or those being annexed.  In 2008 the City of Overland Park received approval from the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners.  In 2009 the City of Olathe decided not to pursue the annexation.  This is A Tale of Two Cities.  You decide.

This graph shows the change in Property Tax mill rate for both cities.  For 2009 and 2010 Overland Park has increased .33% per year.  Olathe has decreased .15% per year. A difference of .48%.  From 2007 to 2010 Overland Park has increased 2.07% and Olathe has decreased .75%.  A difference of 2.82%.

Although the Overland Park annexation increased The City by 20% the following shows what happened to “services equal to or better” since the annexation:

The 2009 Budget:  ♦ Seven full-time positions were identified for elimination during budget development: one in the City Clerk’s Office, two in the Police Department, one in the Fire Department, and three in Planning and Development Services. ♦ The 2009 Budget includes the addition of eight full-time employees: three Public Works maintenance workers to serve the annexed area, three employees in the Parks and Recreation Department to staff enhancements at the Deanna Rose Farmstead, one Stormwater Best Management Practices Engineer, and a Facility Supervisor at the Overland Park Soccer Complex.

 The 2010 Budget includes 901 full-time employees, a decrease of nine full-time employees from the adopted 2009 Budget. This reduction includes: Accountant Finance Department, Employment Specialist Human Resources Department, Police Officer Police Department, 3 Farmstead Attendants Parks and Recreation Department, GIS Analyst Planning and Development Services, Systems Building Inspector Planning and Development Services, Civil Engineer Planning and Development Services.

Both cities contemplated annexing an existing population that already spent sales tax dollars in each respective city.  Let’s look at both cities’ General Fund during this time period. 

 OP Gen Fund Detail       Olathe Gen Fund Detail   Since 2008 Overland Park’s Beginning Balance has fallen $23,971,329 while Olathe’s has risen $527,065.  As usual the answer to this dilemna is in the details.

Commingling “old funds” and “new funds” and calling it all Revenue for determining ratios is not appropriate or common especially if this accounts for 28% of the total.  Is Sales Tax really 43% and is Property Tax really 7% of Revenue?

Or is Sales Tax really 62% and is Property Tax really 9%.

Same information provided from Olathe

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way.”

Olathe calls this economy “Bridging the Gap”.  It would only be appropriate if Overland Park called it “Bridging the Ooopps”.

“The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted.” James Madison

Ken Dunwoody                                         GOD
Henpecked Acres                                   One Nation
14850 W. 159th St.
Olathe, Ks. 66062
(913)768-1603
kdunwoody2@aol.com    www.NOlathe.com     http://NOlathe.net
View Sarah’s Story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUWuUvOZ7RY

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