Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County staff propose shifting sales-tax share formula to assessed value; Wichita share would shrink slightly
Summary
County finance staff proposed switching the county's 1% shared sales-tax distribution from a property-levy basis to an assessed-value basis; staff said Sedgwick County and two cities would gain while most other cities would lose small percentages, and Wichita's share would fall one percentage point in the presented scenario.
Finance staff briefed the commission on a proposed change to how the county's 1% shared sales-tax revenue is distributed among Sedgwick County and its 20 cities. The proposal would move the 0.5 share currently distributed based on property-tax levy to a distribution based on assessed value.
Lindsay, the finance presenter, said the assessed-value formula would account for growth as communities develop and would be "a much more fairer and more standardized approach." She presented a table showing Sedgwick County and two cities would gain while the other 18 would see modest reductions; she said Wichita's share in the scenario would fall from about 39.3% to 38.2%.
Commissioners asked for worst-case impacts for individual cities; staff acknowledged the formula change would have differential impacts but noted many cities levy their own sales taxes so those collections would not be affected. The commission indicated support to proceed with drafting bill language for the legislative platform but did not finalize direction at the agenda review meeting.
