City Hall Day at the Legislature

Today, Commissioners Joe Jindra and Darrel Hosie and I ventured up to Topeka for the League of Kansas Municipalities’ City Hall Day at the Legislature event. It usually requires that we leave when it is dark. (I don’t like getting up that early.) I enjoyed the drive because it reminded me of winter in the San Joaquin Valley where I grew up. From Clay Center to past Manhattan fog covered the road. It was also an opportunity to get quality time with two members of the Commission.

The event brings elected and appointed officials to Topeka to hear about what the legislature is doing from the House and Senate leadership and to get updates from LKM staff. Today we learned that there is a new constitutional amendment proposed that will freeze property tax values for those over 65 years of age.

We also heard about the SB 323 approved last year. It is the Eminent Domain bill. Legislation is being proposed to address the use of eminent domain in the areas where blight is involved. A new definition of blight is being proposed – although we did not hear what it was.

The resumption of Local Ad Valorem Tax Reduction revenue (LAVTR) was discussed. LAVTR was created in 1965 to help communities lower their ad valorem tax (property tax). During the Graves administration, the State of Kansas decided that they needed those funds to balance the State budget forcing local entities to come up with local funds to off set the loss of LAVTR. The impact to Concordia was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. I was working in Baldwin City at the time and the loss of those funds was $200-$300 thousand. That was a considerable hit on the ability to fund the budget. If that happened today, it would be 8.7 Mills that would be made up by both new tax revenue and reductions in spending.

We heard about the changes in FCC Cable Rules that are affecting municipalities across the nation. In budget comments the past several years, I have pointed out that franchise fees for Cable, Telephone, Gas, and Electric are at risk from the US Congress. We are projecting $533,000 in 2007 revenue that could disappear by congressional action. Franchise fees are our third highest source behind Sales Tax ($1.5 million) and Property Tax ($619,000).

SM 20 is a bill requiring all units of government to be a member of Kansas One Call. One Call is a private organization that coordinates location of underground utilities so contractors can carefully excavate without disturbing a buried water, sewer, gas, electric, or cable line. The problem with this bill is that it is mandatory. The City is a member of One Call but there are 222 communities with populations less than 500 that cannot afford to participate. Many times, we have one employee spend the entire day marking locations for contractors. This bill would also put the oversight of local utilities under the jurisdiction of the KCC. From our point of view, oversight is better left in the hands of the City Commission – at the local level.

One of the most interesting speakers was House Utilities Chairman Carl Holmes (R-125). He spoke of the many things that were happening in the Utility area. One key point I picked up on was the development of transmission lines so wind energy projects can be developed. Capacity on transmission lines is one of the problems of expanding renewable wind energy in Kansas. This is something I need to watch.

The highlight of our day was spending time with new Representative Elaine Bowers. It was fun to see the enthusiasm she expressed toward the work she is now doing. Those who know Elaine are not surprised by this. During our conversations, she took us on the house floor where she introduced us to several new legislators and also the Speaker of the House. We are looking forward to working with Representative Bowers in her new role. Even as a 3 week freshman legislator, she seems very comfortable in this role.

Note to Jim: I am writing at 8:48 PM at the dining room table. Blogging is a part of communicating what is happening in and around the City. I enjoy it, people enjoy it from all over the world (right, I said world), the Commissions likes that I am doing it, therefore, don’t be surprised that I continue to write.