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Committee hears bill to raise township bonding limits and add population tiers
Summary
Senate Bill 7 would raise bonding limits for township buildings and fire departments, introduce a population-based tiered limit (1% up to 10% depending on population) and extend maximum bond maturity from 15 to 20 years. Proponents said the change is needed for large, growing townships such as Soldier Township in Shawnee County.
The Senate Committee on Local Government, Transparency, Ethics held a hearing on Senate Bill 7, which would increase township bonding limits for reconstruction, repair and equipment of township buildings and for township fire departments. The bill would create population-based tiers for bonding limits, raise the cap for townships with more than 10,000 residents to 10 percent of assessed valuation for buildings and add a separate 5 percent cap for fire department bonds. The bill would also extend maximum bond maturities for these purposes from 15 to 20 years and, if enacted, would take effect July 1, 2025.
Committee staff explained the bill’s text and sponsors described the policy aim: bring outdated statutory limits in line with modern costs and allow township boards to ask voters to fund necessary infrastructure. Senator Kenny Titus, a co-sponsor, said the statute’s current caps are effectively pre–World War II limits that leave large townships unable to finance new facilities.
Titus and Representative Kyle McNorton said Soldier Township, north of Topeka, is the state’s largest township and is effectively a fully developed area without an incorporated city. Audrey Guzman, Soldier Township administrator, told the committee the township’s population has grown from about 3,000 when the township started fire services to roughly 15,100 now; call volume has risen from about 120 calls annually to roughly 1,200. Guzman said the township’s existing bonding cap leaves it unable to finance a new fire station: current statutory limits equate to roughly $2.1 million for their assessed value, while construction estimates discussed during testimony ranged from $6 million to $8 million.
Sponsor testimony emphasized the bill preserves voter control: townships would still need to put bonds to public vote. Titus said the draft uses a tiered approach tied to population and assessed value to avoid a “one-size-fits-all” result that would hurt small, sparsely populated townships.
Committee members asked technical questions about the bill’s draft language and about how the tiers would operate. Charles, the committee revisor, acknowledged the bill text combines new and old language and provided a brief comparison in committee materials to show current law versus the proposed text. Representative McNorton and local township officials said incorporation has been discussed historically but raised complications such as three-mile urban growth zones and dispersed population patterns.
No opponents registered during the hearing and the committee did not take a recorded vote. Proponents asked legislators to adopt the tiered structure to allow large townships to seek voter-approved bonds for modern facility needs.
