The Overland Park City Council overwhelmingly approved a nearly $500 million staff-proposed budget for next year. The vote was 12-1, including Mayor Kurt Skoog as a supporter. The only “No” vote was cast by Councilman Jeff Cox, who didn’t object to the spending or tax increase, but took issue with the budget process itself. His comments begin here at the 2:10:39 mark.
Earlier in the evening, the council voted to exceed revenue neutral, which necessitated the public hearing on the budget.
As a recent editorial in The Sentinel pointed out, the claim that spending is only increasing “6.6%” is not specious; the increase over this year’s estimated spending is nearly 13%. Equally misleading was Councilman Logan Heley’s flippant claim during the budget hearing that OP’s mill rate was the “lowest in the history of the universe” and the city’s proposed budget, in reality nearly six times the inflation rate, is “super, super lean.” A 2021 Sentinel report showed that Overland Park’s lower mill rate is due to its favorable property mix; commercial property is assessed at 25% of its appraised value, while residential property is assessed at 11.5%. Overland Park has much more commercial property than other cities, resulting in more taxable assessed valuation. Overland Park’s lower mill rate has nothing to do with efficiency.
By the way, Henley’s “super, super lean” budget contains many exorbitant spending increases, including 15% for Finance & Administration, 20% for Parks & Recreation Administration, 17% for Arboretum, and 13% each for Planning & Development, Building Safety, and Engineering Service…