New polling released today shows that residents of Prairie Village, Kansas—a small, land-locked community in the Kansas City, Kansas metro area—overwhelmingly want a chance to vote on a new $30 million bond issue to build a new municipal complex. The Prairie Village City Council has tried to deny them this vote in the past without explanation.
At issue is a new “municipal complex” the city wishes to build, which would combine the police and municipal court in one building and a new city hall on the other side of the property at 7820 Mission Road in Prairie Village.
The new poll of 435 adults completed by SurveyUSA on behalf of Kansas Policy Institute, the Sentinel’s parent company, shows that 85% say the city should hold an election for the project, and only 6% say there should not be an election. Results are very similar across age groups and political ideology. For example, 92% of self-described conservatives, 83% of moderates, and 86% of liberals agree that residents should vote on the bond issue.
The city is using a 2016 charter ordinance originally intended to finance small projects such as a $3 million street light installation without resorting to a special election to avoid putting the matter before voters. Charter ordinances are the “constitutional amendment” of city government in Kansas, allowing cities to replace certain types of state laws that affect cities of different sizes differently from local ordinances.
While the charter ordinance allows the city to issue the bonds without a vote by residents, it does not prevent the city from holding a bond election.
Residents unwilling to pay higher taxes for the city hall project
As the Sentinel previously reported, the city claims the matter won’t cause a mill rate increase. However, even if that is true, residents would still pay higher taxes based on valuation increases, and property owners overwhelmingly stated they were unwilling to pay higher property taxes to fund the project by a margin of 68% to 19%, with 13% not sure.
Again, results are consistent across all demographic splits, with the majority unwilling to pay higher taxes. Self-described liberals are more willing to pay higher taxes than other political ideologies, but the majority still says ‘no thanks’ by a margin of 52% to 31%.
Being unwilling to pay higher taxes for the city hall project is not surprising, as Prairie Village residents have watched City Council members raise property tax revenue almost four times the combined inflation and population growth rates.
As the chart below shows, property tax revenues in the city have increased by 322% since 1997, inflation has increased by 85%, and the mill rate has gone up by 12%—all while the population has decreased by 3%.
The poll also shows that 65% of respondents think their property taxes are already too high. Sixty-three percent of men and 66% of women believe they are overtaxed. Again, there is little party split on the issue. Among Republicans, 70% think property taxes are too high, 61% of Democrats, and 66% of Independents agree.
