Absolutely no way will this be allowed to go unchallenged. Who wants to help with the advertising PAC to kill this once its on the ballot?

City Commissioners, Corliss, & Co: Live within your budget and stop putting your hands into ours!

Instead of trying to tax our own harder we should be pressuring the state to pressure the federal government to get the sales taxes we should already be getting from online and out of state purchases. We already gave up sales tax revenues from businesses in our city that provide goods and services to smaller surrounding cities with the promise that we would end up getting it back from the Fed. We need to make the state accountable.

As far as impact taxes go - it always should have been that way. There should be special property taxes on new developments for the first five to ten years they are there to help pay for infrastructure.

This city admin and this commission , who failed to implement any savings or cuts during the last budget session , and continue to spend like drunken sailors , need to cease refinancing their waste at the expense of lawrence taxpayers.

Kill the T , moratorium on travel , cut the staff salaries , cut the consulting costs , make the city entities ,like Eagle Bend revenue generators , quit raising sewer and water rates at 5% clips , quit printing al the propaganda that comes in the water bill each month , stop the mailings from the police chief warning ku neighborhods about parking in their yards , how much did that cost , quit subsidizing a select business sector , i.e. downtown , stop runing the street sweeper on clean streets , stop hauling yard waste , get rid of the sign nazi , stop funding the homeless enablers , quit buying crappy art . Why did the city have to buy over 500 acres of farmland for the sewer plant ? Probably 3 times what they needed.

This city is so completely mismanaged that they need a good kick in the a$$ , NO NEW TAXES !

How about the city opening its books to the taxpayers? Let us take a look at where our money is going and where it has gone. Then we can make an informed decision when it comes time to vote on these matters.

How many items are going to packed into the sales tax? It seems to change daily. Most of us kinda already thought we were paying for the streets. If there is any giveaway to private interests included in this tax deal, I would vote no. It doesn't seem the right climate to be asking for more money when the city's secret dealings are being investigated.

Besides, isn't this why all those people went to Washington recently? Or, did they go? I can't seem to find any info on that. Who did they talk to? What was accomplished? How much did the citizens finance? For that matter, how much was the last trip when they met with "staff"? LJW promised to disclose that last year.

"How about tax relief for once."

Interestingly, I got the tax bill bill for my Bonner Springs property. My taxes went DOWN. Gee, how can that be? Maybe Carol Marinovich can offer some guidance.

I'm not an expert on this, but I had understood that a lot of state and local governments would be hurting because of Bush's tax cuts. So, I don't know if any of us have benefitted from the federal tax cuts, but we are having to pay for it through reduced transfers from the federal-state-local level.

I do support a new library and new sports centers for youth, a better feasiblity study needs to happen then a new tax increase without some other relief.

"The street are in the mess they are because of the last commission. The 3 amigos."

Actually, they improved the specification for road construction so that they'd last longer. Whoever said limestone aggregate was acceptable must've been getting paving company kickbacks.

As usual, the people who will eventually bitch the loudest about the crumbling infrastructure are the ones who have been conned into the "Taxes are Of DE DEBBIL!!!" no-brainer position.

This is what taxes are FOR, dumbasses.

Max1: "I also agree with Highberger - we need "new impact fees" "to recoup the cost of new city infrastructure"."

Mr. Highberger, et al, has already raised impact fees to the point where Lawrence builders pay triple the amount that Wichita builders pay and double the amount Olathe charges.

Pace: "When my home was built the city put a "special" assessment on my taxes to pay for the road. That is considered discouraging for new developers, i consider it only fair they pay their share.. No new taxes unless they are married to impact fees."

In 2005 the city collected $1,094,660 in impact fees. Since then the impact fees in Lawrence have been increased by 20%. Note that this money is for improvements to major infrastructure necessitated by growth, i.e., the new sewage treatment facility. ALL the infrastructure within a development is paid for by the developer, often along with assessments for other nearby or future projects.

This brings up the age old question of who should have to pay for major new infrastructure associated with growth. A good analogy is that of a utility company, say Sunflower Cablevision. They want to provide service to a newly developed neighborhood. This means they must install more cable to each lot and purchase and install new equipment, repeaters, etc. This stuff is expensive but easy, but when they reach a certain number of users they must purchase more server space, perhaps enlarge their main trunk capacity with more fiber, etc. Should they fund this by charging only the new customers an impact fee? Of course not, this would be bad for future business.

The city must install a new sewage treatment facility and the new sewage system associated with it to serve current and future growth south of the Wakarusa and lessen the load on the current facilities. This is a huge expenditure that will not yield much income for many years. There will necessarily be a period where we have too much sewage treatment capacity.

The same goes for major new roadways like the 15th street extension. Does it make sense to only charge new homebuyers the cost of this roadway? When sixth street was enlarged, the state paid most of the bill. Shouldn't Lawrence have paid for it all even though it is a state hiway? How is this fair to the people who live in Goodland?

So, Lifelong, exactly what is the current impact fee scheme for Lawrence, Wichita and Olathe, especially compared to Eudora, JoCo, or DeSoto, in $/sq. foot or $/acre?

As for Wakarusa, "Chestnut...said city leaders believe major portions of Wakarusa Drive need to be entirely rebuilt." Well, get in line, bud, right behind all of E. 13th, Louisiana from 17th to 19th, 17th from Louisiana to Barker, and 19th from Mass to Iowa. And get KU to chip in it's fair share, since it's been encouraging people to drive into the center of town.

Kinda sucks that I'll have to pay more for a shirt, a bike tire, or a pound of coffee in order to support the habits of recreational drivers who are unnecessarily tearing up the streets in this town.

"They want to provide service to a newly developed neighborhood. This means they must install more cable to each lot and purchase and install new equipment, repeaters, etc. This stuff is expensive but easy, but when they reach a certain number of users they must purchase more server space, perhaps enlarge their main trunk capacity with more fiber, etc. Should they fund this by charging only the new customers an impact fee?"

That's how it used to be funded. If you built in a new area, you had to pay for all those services to be run to you. Water, gas, sewer, electric, phone, and later cable all had to be paid by the homeowners. Specials would be assessed for 10-20 years to pay for infrastructure. Back in the 70s, it cost $100 to have cable TV installed, which was two weeks' pay for a lot of folks. Nowadays, the folks building McMansions expect someone else to pay for their sprawl.

Without resort to name calling, I agree with anyone who has said we already pay enough in taxes. The taxpayers are not money trees; always capable of growing more green. If the city leaders we have now cannot find OTHER things to cut in terms of city provided services, in order to fund necessary things like street repairs (not necessarily street additions or pretty flowers/trees near roads) or fire & police salaries and equipment, I suggest we (a) get rid of the current crop of "leaders" and (b) "hire" (elect) people who are better at living within a budget!!

The way things are going, we are going to end up a socialist country; where half of all salaries are used to pay for government programs. The results of that system can be seen first hand in the UK - I suggest to those who approve of such systems move there for a year or two (minimum) before scrapping the capitalist system entirely.

All negativity and theory aside, what are the facts? Can anyone accurately report them: What do other communities (in Kansas and elsewhere) charge as sales tax? And what is the median income of people living in those cities?

grimpeur,

Lawrence charges its impact fee with the water tap, as does Wichita. The fees are based on tap size. Lawrence 1" tap "system development charge" is $4,680. Wichita 1" meter "water plant equity fee" is $1,520 and now charges a new "sewer plant equity fee" of $1,350.

In 2005, Lawrence collected $1M, while the city of Olathe collected $3M. But Olathe had 6 times the amount of growth. I have no figures for Eudora or Desoto. Note that many communities in Kansas charge no impact fees and offer incentives instead.

No support for tax increase:

http://www2.ljworld.com/polls/2007/apr/support_sales_tax_increase/

http://www2.ljworld.com/polls/2007/jun/what_do_you_think_mayor_sue_hacks_sales_tax_propos/

http://www2.ljworld.com/polls/2007/aug/what_do_you_think_proposed_new_sales_tax_lawrence/

Why is Lawrence Lagging? http://www2.ljworld.com/polls/2007/sep/why_do_you_think_lawrence_growth_lagging/

gccs14r: "That's how it used to be funded. If you built in a new area, you had to pay for all those services to be run to you. Water, gas, sewer, electric, phone, and later cable all had to be paid by the homeowners. Specials would be assessed for 10-20 years to pay for infrastructure. Back in the 70s, it cost $100 to have cable TV installed, which was two weeks' pay for a lot of folks. Nowadays, the folks building McMansions expect someone else to pay for their sprawl."

Actually, just the opposite is true. The trend is that new homebuyers pay for more and more every year. Utilities like TV, phone, gas, electric, take care of themselves. The developer (new homebuyer) takes care of everything else. In the 70's the city used to pay for the extra cost of street width over the standard 27", for the extra sidewalk on thru streets (and extra width). They used to pay for the extra cost for major water mains and sewer mains. They had never heard of impact fees. Now the city pays for NOTHING. They also saddle new homebuyers with special assessments to pay for major arterials like Wakarusa Drive and George Williams Way, which they used to pay most of.

Every time a new "MacMansion" goes up, you should be happy. This homebuyer is paying a huge burden in property tax even though they may have no kids attending school, and probably have a 2" water meter with an impact fee of $11,420.

One could actually make a good case for these people to receive a tax abatement, since they use few public resources (sewer, parks, police, fire, schools, etc.) per capita and pay an inordinately large share of the cost. A $1M home would pay nearly $14,000 per year in property taxes.

Lawrence real estate/development/chamber of commerce special interest group spent 25 years expanding the tax base authorized by their bought and paid for city and planning commissioners.

Where's the money?

once on child finishes high school i am putting my house on the market sell it and i am out of here i have a good friend who moved to an island not far from australia a few years ago and he sent me an email the other day he thought about coming back but he sees the LJW online and he said.. forget it! I agreed with him...we need a coup' in the city hall

LoL, this use to be a really kool town to live in..now i regret ever moving here.

ps.. COWBOY i agree with you on all of that extra flyer stuff in our water bills...that fancy coated stock is not cheap with all the folds in it..anyone with a background in the printing biz knows this stuff is not cheap to produce....but oboy we have it here in lawrence, I AM NOT IMPRESSED!!!!!!!

With that logic Logarithmic, the developers should be fat and happy right now with their voice ruling the city instead of complaining about the slow real estate market. Believe it or not, Lawrence has steadily averaged about 300 new homes per year over the last 20 years with few ups and downs until recently.

I would challenge anyone to name one type of business that has been more adversely affected in recent years by legislation (codes and restrictions) and by heaping costs on them traditionally paid for from other sources. I am not saying that there aren't any, but it would be interesting to hear them. Perhaps coal plant construction for one.

I am also not saying that this trend is not totally justified. It would, however, be nice to not have to hear people blame all the city's problems on development. Why do you think we need a tax increase anyway? Could it be that the city incorporated income from growth statistics that simply did not materialize? Once the city gets used to spending money at a certain rate, it is hard to cut back. Face facts Logarithmic, the reason our city is hurting now is because we are no longer growing.