WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – As Sedgwick County looks for ways to keep property taxes down, Sedgwick County cities and county leaders are working together to come up with a solution. That includes talks of property tax relief through the use of a sales tax.
On Wednesday, representatives from 15 cities showed up to a Sedgwick County Commission meeting with Commissioner Ryan Baty whose district includes areas of the county north of Wichita. The question that remains is how to move the relief forward.
“We’re hearing from our constituents loud and clear that they need property tax relief,” Baty said.
It’s become such a hot topic that Baty, the Sedgwick County Commission Chairman, brought city and county leaders together for a discussion.
“Is there a way we can use an eighth-of-a-cent, quarter-of-a-cent, a half-cent sales tax to offset property tax dollars?” Baty pondered.
The commission chairman called the meeting including representation from 15 Sedgwick County cities productive.
“By and large, the representatives from the cities said, ‘yeah, let’s keep having this conversation,” Baty said.
Exactly how a sales tax would work isn’t yet clear. It could be countywide or by an individual city, but Baty said no matter what, the tax cannot negatively impact citizens.
‘Whatever plan that we discuss, at the end of the day, the net cannot be an increase for our constituents,” he said.
The City of Kechi already has a 1% sales tax for a special road project. Kechi Mayor Ashley Valazquez said she’s still open to more conversations.
“For Kechi, we’re still working and starting conversations about how that would look for us,” she said.
Regardless of what county leaders discuss regarding a potential sales tax, it will ultimately be up to citizens to decide if and how it’s implemented.
“In the end, it has to be very specific with ballot language that any sort of sales tax would have an equal offset to property taxes,” Baty said.
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