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Sedgwick County staff to submit five-item legislative request to KAC, seeks commission sign-off
Summary
Sedgwick County staff presented a draft KAC legislative-request form covering five topics and asked the commission to approve submitting the form before KAC’s Aug. 20 deadline.
Sedgwick County staff presented a draft legislative request form to the Kansas Association of Counties (KAC) and asked the commission to authorize submission of five priority items, county staff said.
The form, prepared by county staff and reviewed with the county counselor, lists five items: (1) legislation to appropriate additional budget for county treasurer tag offices; (2) a package of property-tax appraisal reforms that includes options ranging from additional appropriations for county appraisers to statewide consolidation of appraisal functions and changes to tax bill timing; (3) statutory language allowing counties greater authority to act to protect the public from dangerous animals while ensuring owners’ due process; (4) an amendment to K.S.A. 64-101b to permit counties flexibility in methods of public notice (in addition to traditional newspaper publication); and (5) support for county voting rights or local input on unilateral annexation actions by cities.
The appraisal reform item contains several subproposals. Staff described two high-level options: (a) appropriating additional funds to county appraiser offices, or (b) the state taking over appraisal functions. The draft also proposes renaming county appraiser offices to “state appraiser” for each county, and splitting the annual tax bill into separate mailings so that local government levies and statewide (school district / state) levies appear on different schedules (staff discussed December vs. May timing).
During the discussion commissioners pressed for clarity on the appraisal timing details and recommended adding an informational flyer with tax bills to explain which services each payment supports. Staff said the KAC submission deadline is Aug. 20 and that KAC will schedule a meeting of counties that submit requests to discuss the proposals.
County staff said they would coordinate attendance at the KAC meeting with other county representatives and invited commissioners to join. Commissioners indicated general support for staff moving forward with the submission, with one commissioner noting an alternative, statutory reference for unilateral annexation (K.S.A. 12-521) that staff could cite in the legislative request.
Staff said the form will include background, justification, and the required answers for KAC’s intake process; if the board wants changes they should notify staff prior to the Aug. 20 deadline.
The item will be handled administratively through KAC’s process; staff did not present a formal ordinance or vote for the commission to adopt at the staff meeting.
