Committee advances bill to raise township bond limits, adds tiered caps

Senate Bill 7, which would increase statutory limits on township bond issuance and revise maturity and percentage limits for township fire department bonds, was advanced out of the Committee on Local Government Tuesday.

The bill would leave the current 1% cap on general-obligation bonds in place for townships with populations of 5,000 or fewer, raise the cap to 5% for townships with populations between 5,001 and 15,000, and raise it to 10% for townships with populations above 15,000. "Senate Bill 7 increases the statutory limits on the bond issuance authority for townships," Jason Long, the committee reviser, told the committee, and said the bill amends statutes governing general obligation bonds and township fire departments.

The measure keeps in place the existing requirement that any township bond issuance must be approved by township voters at an election, Long said. He also said the bill makes the fire-department limit a flat 5% of assessed tangible valuation for any township and extends the maximum maturity of those fire-department bonds from 15 to 20 years.

Supporters described the measure as a response to changing township demographics and service demands. "Our township has over 15,000 people in it and is an urban area," Representative Kyle McNorton (R-50th District) said, describing Soldier Township in North Topeka. He said Soldier Township operates its own EMS and fire department and maintains paved roads; those higher service levels prompted support for larger bonding capacity.

Audrey Guzman, Soldier Township administrator, described growth in call volume and services since the statutes were last updated. "Today we're over 15,000 in population and our annual call volume just this last year was over 1,200," Guzman said. She said the bonding limits have not kept pace with those changes and that recent local fire stations have cost between $5 million and $11 million; under current statutory caps, Guzman said, the township would be unable to finance even the low end of those projects through bonds.

Committee members who spoke in favor cited the tiered approach as a way to avoid a "one size fits all" policy for all townships. The reviser told the committee that the bill previously passed the Senate on a 39-0 final vote and would take effect July 1 if enacted.

The committee first suspended its rules to "work" SB 7 and then voted to move the bill out of committee favorably for passage. The motion to move SB 7 out of committee was made by Representative Flex and seconded by Representative Wolfe; the committee advanced the bill by voice vote. No roll-call tally was provided in the committee record.

If enacted, the bill would require townships to continue to seek voter approval before issuing bonds, but it would increase the amount they could seek based on population tiers and would allow separate calculations for general township bonds and fire-department bonds.

The committee heard no opponents in person and no neutral testimony at the time of the hearing. The bill remained subject to further consideration in later chambers and, if enacted, would change the statutory caps referenced in the Kansas statutes cited by the reviser.