The City of Prairie Village is refusing to allow residents to vote on a $30 million bond issue — and will not say why.
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 city claims on its website that there would likely be no tax increase to residents as much of the cost was already baked into city budgets.
“The city began the planning process for making improvements to the Municipal Complex four years ago,” the FAQ on the site reads. “With the direction of the city council, the city has already incorporated approximately 2/3 of the expected annual debt repayment amount into the existing budget. Total costs and borrowing structures are still to be finalized, but it is likely that budgeting for the remaining amount needed will not require an increase to the mill levy. This is similar to how many other cities often pay for major repairs and replacements to capital assets: when one project’s bonds are paid off, the next needed projects are financed and built without raising taxes.”
No cash flow analysis of the proposed bond issues is provided to justify the statement that the new debt will “likely” not require a mill levy increase. The city doesn’t provide the related assumptions, such as the assumed rate of increase in property valuations; even if the city doesn’t need to increase the mill levy, capturing the valuation increases certainly would result in property owners paying higher taxes.
City officials also do not explain what they mean by saying that approximately two-thirds of the project is already in the budget. Does that mean they’ve already unnecessarily raised taxes to put money aside? The city also does not disclose the property tax reduction that could occur if no new debt is approved.
Why not allow a vote?
The city is using a 2016 charter ordinance originally intended to finance small projects such as a $3 million street light installation without having to resort 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 which affect different sizes of cities differently with local ordinances.
While the charter ordinance allows the city to issue the bonds without a vote by residents, neither does it prevent the city from holding a bond election.
Moreover, while the city claims the matter won’t affect property taxes city officials won’t state the mill rate that would be required to pay off the bonds, nor the total cost to taxpayers including interest.
Indeed, the Sentinel reached out to Prairie Village City Administrator Wes Jordan asking why those questions and what the city’s objection was to allowing residents to vote on a project that would increase the city’s capital assets by a third.
Jordan was out of the office, but Assistant City Administrator Tim Shwartzkopf responded, simply pointing the Sentinel to the city website and stating, “If after reviewing the project link and associated information, you still have questions, let us know.”
The Sentinel then noted that neither the website nor city officials had answered our questions. As of publication, there has been no response.
Prairie Village taxes up more than 300% since 1997
The total cost of the project and the mill rate to pay it off are important information as over the last 27 years Prairie Village residents have watched City Council members raise property tax revenue almost four times the combined rate of inflation plus population growth.
As the chart below shows, property tax revenues in the city have increased 322% since 1997, inflation has increased 85%, and the mill rate has gone up 12%—all while the population has decreased by 3%.
Prairie Village has a history of avoiding questions
In 2023, Prairie Village discussed zoning changes that were intended to address the high cost of housing but would have stripped property owners of their rights.
Homeowner and nurse Karen Gibbons was critical of the city’s transparency on the reform issue:
“The City Council’s comments are a moving target. They have never answered a list of questions we submitted months ago. They answer according to their audience. Even the Prairie Village Planning Commission has asked for clarification. Murky plans make it hard to debate their actions, just as they intend.”
Dan Schoepf, spokesman for the homeowner’s organization PV United, echoed Gibbon’s assessment:
“In summary our concerns can be capsulized in two words: Unanswered questions.”
Schoepf sent nine questions about the proposal in late 2022 and said he never got a response.
