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Voters in Sedgwick County could be asked next year to support a new sales tax that would fund arts, culture and recreation programming.
The Sedgwick County Zoo, Exploration Place science museum, the Kansas African American Museum and the county parks department are all set to take cuts in next year’s proposed county budget .
Funding those programs through a sales tax instead would allow the county to lower its property tax levy by between two and a half and three mills, likely starting in 2026 or 2027. Commissioners want to present voters with a ballot question about a sales tax no later than fall 2025.
Establishing an eighth of a cent sales tax for cultural arts and rec funding would generate around $18 million in revenue based on current sales tax data — roughly the same amount the county now spends annually on quality of life programming.
“I would like to say we would never fund those things ever again through property taxes,” Commissioner Jim Howell said at a staff meeting earlier this week. “They would be forever funded through sales tax.”
If the economy thrived, the sales tax would generate more money to be shared between organizations. On the flip side, an economic downturn that saw the sales tax generate less revenue than expected would result in programming cuts the next year.
“Despite how largely and loudly I complain about property taxes, I fully understand that property taxes are the most stable, secure form of taxation to fund local government,” Chair Ryan Baty said. “I understand that. They are stable and they should be used to fund the core services of what we do here, particularly in public safety.”
The county tax proposal comes as the state is reducing and then eliminating by Jan. 1 its sales tax on food bought at grocery stores. Meanwhile, a major tax cut compromise reached between Gov. Laura Kelly and Republican legislators in June did little to provide property tax relief, but lawmakers have vowed to take the issue up again next year.
A county sales tax ballot proposal would likely have an ending date, giving voters an option in five years to renew the funding mechanism or revert back to using property taxes.
Sarah Lopez, the lone Democrat on the commission and the only incumbent running for re-election this year, said the county has to do something to alleviate the property tax burden on residents. Sixty percent of Sedgwick County’s residential properties appreciated in value this year — the lowest proportion of appraisal increases since 2018.
“I am in favor of looking at this and really having our property taxes revolve around and focus on our core services,” Lopez said. “I think that’s a great way to look at this.”
County seeks buy-in
The idea of switching to a sales tax funding model has already been broached by the nonprofit boards that oversee the zoo and Exploration Place.
“They’re looking for leadership,” County Manager Tom Stolz said.
“I have heard no one in the nonprofit world that we fund speak against this concept. Zero.”
Because the county already levies a one-cent sales tax, largely used to support road and bridge infrastructure, adding an additional sales tax would require lawmakers’ approval to bring a ballot question before voters.
The two options on the table are moving forward with a county-specific sales tax proposal or bringing Wichita and the county’s other 19 cities together on a collaborative effort that would see some or all of them lower their own mill levies in exchange for a share of the new sales tax revenue.
On Thursday, Baty sent an invitation to all 20 mayors inviting them to an Aug. 14 meeting at the Ruffin Building to gauge their support for the initiative. Baty requested that city leadership prepare a breakdown of their cultural/arts and parks/recreation spending and funding model to discuss at the meeting.
Bringing cities in on the sales tax proposal could mean asking voters to approve significantly more than an eighth of a cent tax.
“Let’s just say it’s $60 million [spent on quality of life programming] across the county,” Stolz said. “That’s roughly a half-cent sales tax, and then each city that’s then part of that would have to lower their property tax mill down by that same amount so that the business owners and the homeowners and the property owners get that kind of tax relief.”
It’s still an open question whether city parks funding would be included in the sales tax proposal. The county itself only spends about $1.8 million annually on parks, but some cities dwarf that. Wichita’s 2025 recommended budget calls for spending $29.6 million next year on parks and recreation programming.
“If you look at something like the city of Wichita or even Derby, they have tremendous amounts of money flowing into parks,” Stolz said. “I don’t want to speak for the city but I come from a city. That’s viewed as a core service.”
Opposition to city involvement
Howell, who has been pushing for years to switch to a sales tax-funded model for “non-core” government services, is wary of widening the scope to include cities.
He told The Eagle he doesn’t believe a collaborative plan could be finalized in time to present to the South Central Kansas Delegation of lawmakers by the first week of December. The new legislative session in Topeka will begin in January.
“There’s 20 cities. That means there’s 20 mayors. There’s a 100 city council members. Over a 100 elected officials coming together on a single proposal that everybody has to do it exactly right and then be committed to it, emotionally and absolutely committed to it for it to work,” Howell said. “And you have to get this done by December 1 . . . I think there’s just no way to get there. It’s so complicated.”
Cities have the statutory authority to levy a sales tax of up to two cents. Howell says if they want to offset property taxes, they should just follow the county’s lead and make their own proposals.
“My concern with Commissioner Howell’s recommendation to just go our own way is remember, it’s going to take a vote of the citizens in Sedgwick County, and if the cities in Sedgwick County are against that, it’s never going to pass,” Commissioner David Dennis said.
Baty said he doesn’t want to see the county abdicate its responsibility to lead on the issue when rising property taxes are a communitywide issue. Property values — and corresponding property taxes — have gone up for most Sedgwick County homeowners in the last six years.
“I hear . . . frequently from people that are not just complaining about property taxes. They’re concerned they’re being priced out of their homes,” Baty said, pointing out that rental rates also go up when landlords pass on higher property tax and insurance costs to their tenants.
Of course there’s no guarantee that a reduction in property taxes would result in more affordable rental rates.
“Will the [landlords] hold fast on their rental rates and not increase them or perhaps even reduce if we would pass this? That is the unknown that we can’t get to,” Stolz said.
For now, he said, county staff will begin shaping two separate proposals — one for the county only and one for a collaborative sales tax that includes cities. If all goes according to plan, whatever proposal commissioners ultimately decide on will make it onto a ballot for voters to approve or reject in 2025.
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