As the November 4 general election approaches, voters in Paola are being asked to vote on a ballot question that is more than a little unclear in its wording.
The question reads: “Shall Unified School District No. 368, Miami County, Kansas (Paola) (the “District”) be authorized to levy an ad valorem tax in an amount not to exceed the amount necessary to finance the costs attributable directly to the assignment of cost-of-living weighting to the enrollment of the District, pursuant to the provisions of K.S.A. 72-5159?”
While that may be clear as mud, board member Samantha Poetter-Parshall said what it amounts to is a 5% increase on local property taxes to cover “inflation.”
“They’re given the option to increase the tax,” she said. “Our school district passed it so we could do that, and I was the only no vote, and then a group of people got together and got over 500 signatures to have it put onto the ballot.
“I think the biggest issue for me is our appraisals have gone up over 40% in the last three years. And while we might be considered wealthy based on that, the general wealth of our district hasn’t gone up. So … the formulas messed up. We shouldn’t have this option to begin with.”
Indeed, in March 2025, as The Sentinel previously reported, the Paola school board passed a measure 6-1 — with Poetter-Parshall as the lone “no” vote — to levy the COLA tax of “up to” 5% as state law allows.
However, the protest petition drive forced the district to put the matter on the ballot, rather than have it take effect as of July 1 of this year.
COLAs are normally associated with individual income increases; pay raises or Social Security benefit increases, for example, based on increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as beneficiaries seek to outpace inflation. But Kansas law (Statute 72-5159) allows for COLAs to be implemented as revenue producers based on this formula to calculate assessed valuations of property.”
Director of Business and Finance Jimmy Hay made the district’s budgetary case for the COLA.
“USD 368’s 2024-25 published budget levies $1,443,848 for bond and interest debt service” Hay said. “Those bonds will be paid off and the district will not levy those funds in 2025-26. The cost of living and related local option budget change would generate an estimated $682,568 for the district. The net change is a decrease of $761,280.”
That’s a rather disingenuous rationalization, however. The property for paying off debt goes away because the district no longer has that expense, so it is not a “loss” to the district.
Results of a ‘no’ vote in Paola
Poetter-Parshall said the good news for Paola voters is that when a question is framed as confusingly as this one, it tends to fail.
However, to be clear, a “no” vote on the question would prevent the district from levying a COLA increase on property taxes. A “yes” vote would give them the authority to levy “up-to” 5% additional property tax for this year only, and the COLA would have to be renewed yearly.
However, unless a protest petition forcing an election was filed every year, the board would be able to pass the COLA increase again next year with a simple majority vote.
