Depending on when you read this, It will either be my last column for 2023 or the first for 2024.
As we head out to purchase groceries in 2024, you will notice that the sales tax for food has dropped another 2% as the state portion drop from 4 to 2% and on January 1. 2025 the state sales food sales tax is eliminated. You may know, the State of Kansas has a 6.5% sales tax for items other than food and food was at that level in 2022.
The drive to a zero-food sales tax does not include any local sales taxes as they will remain unchanged. Now this is not just for Junction City and Geary County but across the State. Only 6 of the 105 counties in Kansas do not have a local county sales tax and even then some cities in those counties do have a local city sales tax. The cities without a sales tax in those counties is very few and not sure if any have a store that sells food. So, if you go to Manhattan or any other City in Kansas to purchase food items, there will be a sale tax charged in nearly all of those cities.
Yes, I did testify at a Kansas House of Representatives Committee Hearing last March regarding food sales. The issue was about eliminating food from the local sales tax. None of the City or County representatives opposed removing the state portion of sales tax on food but were concerned about the impact of the loss of revenue on a local basis. For Junction City we conservatively calculated that eliminating the local
sales tax on food would lower revenue by over $1.5 million per year. One of two things would have to occur. Either increase property taxes or cut services such as street repair and maintenance. In addition, Geary County and the 2 other cities would have suffered a loss in revenue as well. I am not disagreeing of the value of lowering the sales tax on food as it would be beneficial to some, but the shifting in funding would come into play.
Presently, the City of Junction City has a local 2% sales tax. !% is for the City General Fund and the other is for debt service. That portion retires on December 31, 2030. There is a possibility that it could end sooner since sales tax revenues have been strong, but that will be a decision of the City Commission at some time. Geary County has a .25% sales tax for aa bond on the Hospital and a 1% general sales tax. This 1% is split between the County and the 3 cities by a state formula. State sales taxes are created by the Kansas Legislture. Local sales taxes all have to be approved by the voters. Yes, the County or City governing bodies may place the question on the ballot, but ultimately the voters decide.
Yes, revenue is important to City. I know some of you say that the City focuses on that issue, but there is good reason. Without revenue the Police Department or Fire Department would not provide the services they do to keep the community safe and secure. Lack of revenue would impact the ability to make improvements in the parks or less street work would be done each year. And yes I know many of you are saying more work needs to be done on City streets or in alleys, but it takes “dollars” to make that happen. The recent discussion about the EMS service is about the dollars needed to operate the service. A cut in County Funding means increased costs to property owners in the City.
A couple of weeks ago, a resident sent me a note asking about her property taxes and the increase from last year. Even though the property taxes are collected by the County, I could get on the computer and make some calculations. Of course, like many of us, her home value as appraised by the County, had increased from 2022. In fact, hers was at the same percentage as the average for the City. Like many, the increase was to the City,
County and School District. The good thing is that our homes and property are increasing in value as we all want our investments to be worth more tomorrow than they are today. Yes, I know some of you say property taxes are too high here. Yes the increase in property value has increased taxes but it has in other communities as well. As a former State Senator from North Central Kansas used to say, “if you want to cut taxes tell me which service or program you use that can be cut.” It is easy to say to cut taxes, but we seldom want to cut services, In fact most want the City to do more such as investing in the clean-up and improvement of Grant Avenue. It doesn’t happen without dollars as the property owners will probably walk away and not pay the costs. Yes, the debt the City got itself into about 15 years or so ago, has had its impact, but “it is what it is” and we continue to move forward to taking care of that issue. Not a simple task, but as a community we have done well.