Resident urges commissioners to keep Saturday talks, warns most property tax dollars go to police

Gary Oles, a Manhattan resident, asked the City Commission on Aug. 5 to continue its informal Saturday conversations with residents and warned taxpayers should know how the city portion of their property taxes is allocated. Oles told commissioners that the Saturday talks are a “wonderful opportunity” for elected officials to “sit and listen to citizens” and urged the city to keep offering them and to expand the outreach over time. Oles also highlighted his own property tax bill as an example. “For me, it’s about $1,600 for the city’s portion of my property taxes,” he said, then added that “mathematically, 80% of that is going to RCPD.” He also said the city assessed about $38,000,000 for the 2025 budget and that roughly $21,000,000 of that assessment was for the police department allocation. The commission did not take any formal action in response to Oles’s remarks. Mayor Karen McCullough opened the meeting and allowed public comment at the start of the agenda; Oles spoke during that public-comment period. The request to continue Saturday talks was presented as a civic-engagement suggestion rather than a formal petition or motion; no direction to staff or vote followed from the public comment.