By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

As the Ellis County commission begins the process of setting the 2018 budget, Administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes told commissioners the overall budget picture is “pretty positive.” But Ellis County could be looking at a tax increase.

Smith-Hanes said Monday an early property tax projection is similar to last year’s numbers. Real-estate valuations were up about three-percent and the oil price used to set valuations was up about 50 percent over last year’s numbers, all positive indicators from 2017 for the 2018 budget. He said most of the real-estate valuation increases were from commercial real-estate, while residential property was flat.

The county finished 2016 with more cash on hand – almost $1.75 million – than the anticipated $4.967 million. Smith-Hanes said that was because of higher than expected revenues and lower than expected expenditures in 2016. The county also budgeted $1.5 million from the 2017 budget for 2018 and the county has almost $425,000 available to transfer.

Among things weighing on the 2018 budget is a tax lid imposed by the state that went into effect in January 2017. Under the lid, counties cannot levy more in taxes next year than they levied in the current year, adjusted by the five-year rolling average of the Consumer Price Index. There are some exceptions.

Smith-Hanes, who testified on a bill in Topeka last week that would modify the tax lid, said the change means there is no longer an incentive to keep taxes low, something Hays has done in the past.

“In fact we have an incentive to maximize the amount that we are collecting,” Smith-Hanes said. “If we do not, we’re hamstringing ourselves in future years.”

One of the exemptions, which Smith-Hanes called the most important exception for Ellis County in 2018, is the amount collected from property tax, which has declined in the last three years. Under the exemption, counties can levy the amount up to the three-year-average. In Ellis County the amount of property tax levied has gone down each of the last three years.

Smith-Hanes said that comes to about $14.06 million in property tax the county could levy. That is a 5.7 percent increase over the 2017 levy.

He recommended the commission maximize the amount collected.

“There are certainly needs – infrastructure needs, employee needs – for that funding,” Smith-Hanes said. “Perhaps equally as important, if we don’t maximize the amount that we’re collecting in any given year it’s lost to us in succeeding years.”

But Commission Chair Barb Wasinger said there are a lot of negative factors weighing on citizens right now.

“I would like us to be mindful of the fact that it looks like we have a drought going on, that businesses in town overall are down 20 to 40-percent and agriculture is operating at a net loss,” said Wasinger.

“While the state is encouraging us to raise our taxes, we have a citizenry that’s battening down the hatches even more than before.”

Smith-Hanes said the county department heads continue to look at ways to rein in spending and said this situation is “less than ideal for a local policy maker.”

Commissioners Dean Haselhorst and Marcy McClelland also expressed concern with the current state of the economy.

“It’s not like anybody is out hiring a lot of people year either, so that has not come back on the oil or the ag side,” Haselhorst said.

The county will now begin drafting the 2018 budget and plans to have a proposal completed by June.

In other business, the commission met in two separate executive sessions. No action was taken.

By C.D. DeSALVO
Hays Post

Since October 2015, the Northwest Kansas Down Syndrome Society has made it its mission to provide accurate and current information, resources and support for people with Down syndrome, their families and the community. The group spans eight counties and is currently comprised of approximately 25 families and other supporters of individuals with Down syndrome.

“I moved here (Hays) in 2012 from the Kansas City area, and my wife and I noticed that there were numerous ways for older kids in the area with Down syndrome who were already in the community to get involved with services,” said Alex Greene, one of the founders of NWKDSS and a father of an 8-year-old with Down syndrome. “For the new parents who did not know how to get involved, we created this support group/charity to mostly reach out to new parents and educate them on what to prepare for and what to expect.”

NWKDSS hosts a number of fundraisers throughout the year to help parents of children with Down syndrome and to help provide awareness to the communities by hosting various events. The biggest fundraiser for NWKDSS will be the second annual “Tee It Up for Down Syndrome” golf tournament held in April.

“We use the golf tournament as a way to raise funds. Bigger cities do these walks to raise mass amounts of funds, but walks are a lot of work and a lot of hard time and labor with T-shirts and signups,” said Green. “With a golf tournament, we can raise about the same amount of money in half the time.”

Last year was the inaugural golf tournament, and NWKDSS had 112 golfers and more than 30 community sponsors.

“To be completely honest, last year blew my mind,” Green said. “I assumed we would have maybe 40 golfers and raise awareness and raise a little bit of money and kind of have it be a stepping stone. It ended up being crazy. We netted a lot more than we expected money-wise.”

The event will include catering by TK’s Smokehaus and a silent auction that features items such as an autographed basketball by the 2016-17 University of Kansas men’s basketball team, a football autographed by Jamaal Charles, Ron Baker autographed items, and a Kansas City Royals package including tickets and an baseball signed by Mike Moustakas.

The golf tournament will be at Fort Hays State Municipal Golf Course on April 21 and will feature teams of four. Fees are $85 dollars per golfer or $320 per foursome. The event will begin at 10:30 a.m. For more information, contact [email protected] or call Alex Green at 785-766-3483.

For more pictures from last year’s tournament or for information about the organization, visit the NWKDSS Facebook page.

KDHE

TOPEKA — The Kansas Department for Health and Environment (KDHE) has scheduled additional public comment sessions to discuss extension of the KanCare program.

In addition to previously announced sessions in Topeka and Wichita, the agency will conduct additional sessions Wednesday, March 22, from 3 to 5 p.m. in Hays at the Fort Hays State University Memorial Union, Fort Hays Ballroom, Room 228, 700 College Drive, Hays, Kansas and in Johnson County from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday, March 24 at Embassy Suites, Salon DEF, 10401 S. Ridgeview Road in Olathe, Kansas.

The State of Kansas is asking the federal government for a one-year extension of the current KanCare waiver. KanCare, the state Medicaid system, is currently operated under a five-year demonstration waiver approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

KDHE plans to submit its extension request by the end of April, 2017. The extension, if approved, would be effective January 1, 2018 for one year. The state plans to submit its application for renewal of the KanCare waiver later this year.

Feedback or questions about the extension also may be submitted by email to: [email protected].
You may also mail them to KanCare Renewal, c/o Becky Ross, KDHE-Division of Health Care Finance, 900 SW Jackson, LSOB – 9th Floor, Topeka, Kansas, 66612.

All comments from these meetings, along with those sent by e-mail or regular mail, will be collected and posted at www.KanCare.ks.gov.

KanCare extension public comment sessions are scheduled for:

· Monday, March 20, 2017, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Wichita Marriott, Kansas Grand Ballroom, 9100 Corporate Hills Drive, Wichita, Kansas

· Tuesday, March 21, 2017, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Ramada Convention Center, Regency Ballroom, 42SE 6th Street, Topeka, Kansas

· Wednesday, March 22, 2017, from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Fort Hays State University Memorial Union, Fort Hays Ballroom 228, 700 College Drive, Hays, Kansas

· Friday, March 24, 2017, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Embassy Suites Olathe, Salon DEF, 10401 S. Ridgeview Road, Olathe, Kansas

· Monday, March 27, 2017, at 3:30 p.m. during the quarterly KanCare Advisory Council meeting, Curtis State Office Building, Room 530, 1000 SW Jackson, Topeka, Kansas