Why it matters: Exceeding the revenue neutral rate will allow the county to take in more property tax revenue than it did in 2022.

• Although Johnson County’s proposed 2023 budget includes a property tax rate decrease, Johnson County homeowners are still expected to pay more in property taxes in the upcoming year, due to rising home values in the county — which went up by roughly 11% this year.
• This comes as Johnson County prepares to adopt its budget for 2023, which is slated for final approval next week.

What are the new tax rates? The board voted to exceed the revenue neutral rates for the Johnson County taxing district, the Parks and Recreation taxing district and the Library taxing district.

• The “revenue neutral rate” is the tax rate that would generate the same property tax revenue as the previous year using the current year’s valuation.
• A state law passed last year requires taxing jurisdictions to hold public hearings if they plan to bring in more in tax revenue than the previous year.
• The total county mill rate included in 2023’s budget is 24.568 mills, broken down the following way for each taxing jurisdiction:
  • 17.744 mills for the county taxing district
  • 3.016 mills for the Parks and Recreation taxing district
  • 3.808 mills for the Library taxing district.
• The county expects to bring in roughly $315.6 million in property tax revenue in 2023.

What do “mills” actually mean?
• One mill is equivalent to $1 for every $1,000 of assessed property value.
• Assessed property values are 11.5% of appraised, or market, values for residential properties. (So, a home appraised at $300,000 has an assessed value of $34,500.)
• So, divide your home’s assessed value by $1,000 and multiply that by a taxing jurisdiction’s mill rate to figure out how much in annual property taxes you will owe for that jurisdiction’s share of your annual tax bill.

Other budget takeaways: The $1.64 billion budget is for all county services and includes a $264.1 million Capital Improvement Program — which encompasses the county’s building and maintenance costs for the upcoming year.

• County expenditures for 2023 are set at $1.15 billion, and reserves — which serve as funding set aside for unexpected needs — are set at $488.1 million.
• Some of the notable capital improvement items in the budget include $130.9 million for wastewater projects (which includes the Tomahawk Creek and Myron K. Nelson facility improvement projects), $23.3 for the county’s Stormwater Management Program and $20 million for Parks and Recreation capital projects.

Johnson Countians weigh in: At Monday’s public hearing, several Johnson County residents voiced concerns about the rise in property tax revenue in the budget, arguing that residents are getting priced out of Johnson County and are already struggling due to recent inflation.

• “Many working families are dealing with stagnating wages and are struggling to keep up,” said Olathe resident Mary Blake. “We cannot continue to be taxed as though we are a never-ending revenue source for a bloated system.”
• In relation, some residents also voiced frustration about economic developments that had been granted taxpayer-backed incentives — such as the Panasonic plant project in De Soto.
• “These jobs that you are making us pay for come at a cost to us,” said Olathe resident Rebecca Shipley. “You are picking winners and losers and making the losers fund the billion-dollar corporations whose owners don’t live in this community.”

Board action: After closing the public hearing, the board ultimately approved all three measures (for each taxing jurisdiction) on a 5-2 vote, with commissioners Charlotte O’Hara and Michael Ashcraft voting in dissent.

• “We need to be very cognizant of our community and our taxpayers,” O’Hara said before the vote took place. “We just have, in my opinion, lost sight of that in some way.”

What’s next? Following Monday’s approval, the budget will come before the board for final approval Sept. 1.

• If approved, the official adoption of the 2023 budget would be the final step in allowing the county to exceed the revenue neutral rate.