By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
Hays USD 489 will ask the city of Hays for possible approval of a sales tax ballot to supplement a $94 million bond issue for planned facility improvements. Superintendent Dean Katt and Dustin Avey of Piper Jaffray, the school district’s financial advisor, are scheduled to meet with the city commission during their Jan. 7 work session.
As Assistant City Manager Jacob Woods explained, Kansas school districts do not have the legal authority to place sales tax questions on local ballots, and therefore need a city or county to facilitate the process.
“There are two ways to do that,” he said. “One way is the city passes an ordinance that puts the question on the ballot and then the people vote. The other way is to get signatures on a petition of ten percent of the registered voters which the county clerk would make sure it’s valid and certified, and then the vote would go on.”
There are also two types of sales taxes that could be utilized, according to Woods.
“The city is authorized to do two different kinds,” he said. “One is a general purpose tax and one is a special sales tax. The general purpose tax can go on for longer periods of time. A special sales tax is for a specific project and that can go on for a maximum of ten years.”
In a memo to commissioners, City Manager Toby Dougherty listed the pros and cons of a new sales tax in Hays.
If voters were to approve a proposed sales tax on behalf of USD 489, it can help keep property taxes lower in Hays, according to Dougherty, and also allow the USD 489 debt to be paid off faster. However, it could also limit the city’s future ability to utilize a special sales tax.
“At this time, city staff does not have plans to recommend any sort of special purpose sales tax to the city commission,” Dougherty wrote, “but the planning horizon is relatively short, and most likely shorter than the period the USD 489’s special purpose tax would be in place.”
Dougherty also suggested that language be inserted in any sort of a sales tax question that ties the enactment of a sales tax to the property tax question, meaning the sales tax could only be imposed if the property tax question is passed by voters.
The USD 489 financing information and facility improvement plan can be seen here.