The state’s anti-tax advocates are taking their battle to the local level, but the movement might be slow to catch on in Douglas County.

Americans for Prosperity – the group pushing the so-called “Taxpayer Bill of Rights” in the Kansas Legislature – last week unveiled a campaign to pass a similar measure to rein in spending by the Johnson County Commission.

“It’s a good thing because a majority of commissioners, it looks like, are on track to raise taxes and increase spending at an alarming rate,” said Johnson County Commissioner John Toplikar, who backs the proposal. “This just puts in place a system to help elected officials keep spending and taxes down.”

The effort would limit revenue growth in local government to inflation plus population growth, and officials would need approval from voters before imposing a tax or fee increase beyond the cap.

Jim Mullins, the leader of Americans for Prosperity in Douglas County, said activists here would watch the Johnson County campaign closely.

If it’s successful, we’ll probably pursue it across the state, not just in Lawrence and Douglas County,” Mullins said.

In Douglas County, both the city and county budgets rose by more than 20 percent between 2002 and 2005 – to $122 million and $47.5 million, respectively. The Lawrence school district, restrained by spending restrictions at the state level, saw its budget rise nearly 13 percent, to $96.9 million, during the same time period.

Local officials said they’re not interested in the proposal here.

“I think we, as a commission, do what we can to keep the spending down,” said Lawrence Mayor Boog Highberger. “I think a bill like that unnecessarily ties the hands of elected officials from doing the things they need to for their communities.”

Douglas County Commissioner Bob Johnson agreed, saying voters elect politicians to make those decisions.

“Sometimes we think our system is broken, and maybe sometimes it is, but that’s really the basis of our system of elected representation,” Johnson said. “Ideally, the system works without putting what I would call false limitations.”

Toplikar, though, isn’t so sure elected officials can be trusted.

“My experience in those years of political service is, after people get elected – they’re very well-intentioned going into the job,” Toplikar said. “But after they get into the job they don’t know how to say no.”

State legislators expect to put the statewide proposal on the November 2006 ballot; Toplikar said the Johnson County measure might take a year or more to receive approval.