By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
Property tax relief for Kansans is at the top of the priority list for this session for state legislators Sen. Rick Billinger, R-Goodland, 40th Dist. and Rep. Ken Rahjes, R-Agra, 109th Dist.
The pair were the featured speakers at Saturday morning's first legislative coffee in a series presented by The Chamber in Hays at the Hays Public Library.
"I continue to fight for property tax relief [but] there's not a lot we can do at the state level," Billinger said.
"Most of your property tax are local other than the 20 mills (at the state level] and in this proposed tax package there is cuts on the 20 mills. The first $100,000 (in state property taxes) in your homes comes off. There are small things being done in that package for property tax."
Billinger went on to discuss the Republicans' sweeping 5.25% flat income tax plan sent to the Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, where it was vetoed Jan. 26.
"We do have a governor and a legislature that is split," said Rahjes. "When I talked to constituents before the session, they were more excited about property tax relief than income tax relief.
"l think if we do any sort of tax reform, whether it be property tax, income tax, or so on, we don't need to do a one size for everything," he said. "We need to take this slowly, bits at a time."
Thirteen states have a single tax plan, including Nebraska and Colorado.
"We're not trying something new that's never happened," Billinger said.
Still, he remains more focused on property tax reduction. "It's my big push."
"Rep. Rahjes and I both have many elderly retired residents in our districts. ... They probably spent 30-40 years paying the mortgage on their home. Today, they're paying more in property tax than they ever did for a mortgage.
"I'm working to make sure these people can stay in their homes," Billinger said. "It's just unbelievable what we're doing to our seniors."
The proposed flat tax proposal would also have eliminated the state income tax on Social Security.
Billinger is concerned about inflation as well, saying people having to pay for groceries with credit cards is unsustainable.
Another split between the legislature and the governor has been Kelly's ongoing support of Medicaid expansion in Kansas.
Sen. Billinger supports expansion; Rep. Rahjes instead supports raising reimbursement rates back to hospitals.
"I know expanding Medicaid would help Hays Medical Center a lot, but we have some issues with it," he said. "Just become so many other states are doing it, is that the Kansas way?
He said both sides are yelling over each other, and nobody is listening.
"Let's put that to the side and let's talk about health care. Health care is an important part of our rural communities. ... We need to take a real look at it," Rahjes said. He acknowledged there are people "in the gap" and said that's unfortunate.
As chairman of the Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee, Rahjes said water - quantity and quality - is the most important issue he faces. He talked about the southeast Kansas town of Caney running out of water late last year and the R9 long-term water project for Hays and Russell.
Asked about concerns about foreign ownership of Kansas farmland, Rahjes and Billinger both said they don't anticipate any bill passing that would limit to whom farmland can be sold.
"Who's to tell anyone you can't sell your farm to the highest guy, but I don't support foreign ownership of farmland," Billinger said. "Hopefully, farmers that own farmland would agree, and they can sell it to somebody that is not foreign owned."
The gap in special education funding and its impact particularly on smaller rural schools was addressed.
Billinger serves on two committees which work closely with the intellectual and developmental disability community.
"I've been for putting additional funding into special education since day one," said Billinger.
"When this plan came in the federal government said they'd [fund] 40 percent. They're not doing their part and the state isn't either.
"Last year the state added about $8 million," he said. "It's just not enough. Like everything else, with inflation it just doesn't go as far."
"It won't be fully funded this year," Rahjes said flatly. "I think that's going to be the next lawsuit [against the state of Kansas] by a group of schools that will sue. And, that's probably how we'll get there."
Rahjes said "the feds are not a good partner in this. ... We may wish for this, but guess who's going to pay for it? You and your neighbor, probably three times over.
"We know there's a committee working on this to over time, fully fund the state's part."
Regarding the 2024 budget, it's in good shape, said Billinger, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
"We continue to pay off debt, look at opportunities to pay callable bonds, and started a rainy day fund. We have $1.7 billion in the rainy day fund," he said. "We're trying to put our state in the best position we can so that when the next downturn comes, we're not cutting services."
The event was sponsored by Midwest Energy and the Hays Daily News.
Two more legislative coffees are scheduled for March 2 and April 6.