By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
As Ellis County grapples with a bleak financial future, voters will get an opportunity to weigh in through a pair of sales tax questions later this spring.
During the budget process for 2020, the commission decided to move forward with a sales tax election. A quarter-cent sales tax would go to fund health services in Ellis County. That includes the county Health Department, Emergency Medical Services and High Plains Mental Health.
The second proposed quarter-cent sales tax would go to the county’s general fund, but Ellis County would have to split it with the cities in the county. Both would be allowed to sunset in 2030.
The mail-in ballot is set to hit voters mailboxes the week of March 23 and they are due back to the County Clerk’s office by noon on April 7.
At a meeting earlier this month, Interim County Administrator Darin Myers presented the county commission with a snapshot of the budget, saying if nothing changes, the county will not have enough revenue to fund the general fund by the year 2025. Myers estimated the county would be about $300,000 short.
County Commissioner Butch Schlyer said previous commissions have already been working to secure the county’s financial footing — but they are running out of places to cut.
“Since 2018, commissioners have cut about $2 million off the budget,” Schlyer said. “The current budget right now is less than it was in 2012.”
Ellis County is one of a few Kansas County that don’t have a countywide sales tax. Instead the county relies on property taxes and fees to help cover its nearly $21 million a year budget.
Schlyer said the fees will not cover the budget expenditures and the commission is only allowed to increase property tax 1.5 percent because of the tax lid. That would only increase the county’s bottom line by about $300,000.
The tax lid was set up by the Legislature to keep counties from increasing property taxes without voter approval.
Schlyer said he believes the sales tax route was the best way to go because it “broadens the tax base.”
“It not only affects people who live in Ellis County but affects all the travelers coming through,” Schlyer said. “I don’t believe if we just wanted to just raise property taxes and put that on the election, people aren’t going to support that.”
Myers pointed to the retain pull factor of Ellis County as a good reason to put the sales tax questions up for vote.
According to Myers, the county’s retail pull factor is 1.66. He said that means 66 percent of the sales tax collected comes from people outside of Ellis County.
Sales taxes are paid for, “by the people that stop in Hays when they pass through or they come specifically to Hays to go shopping or come in for sporting events,” Myers said.
While cities like Hays use a sales tax to help fund everyday operations, Ellis County does not benefit from that.
Currently, in the city of Hays the base sales tax is 8.25 percent, according to Myers. But the city of Hays collects 1.75 percent and 6.5 percent goes to the state of Kansas.
Myers also pointed to the new travel plaza being built just north of Interstate 70 at Exit 157. Because the is being annexed into the city of Hays, Ellis County will not collect any sales tax.
If voters were to approve both sales tax questions, Myers said it is estimated to generate a total of $2.2 million per year for Ellis County.
Of that, Ellis County would get to keep approximately $1.55 million that would go specifically to health services in Ellis County.
Ellis County would have to share the revenue from the second quarter-cent sales tax with the cities in Ellis County. Hays would get the largest share, at 51 percent. Ellis County would receive about 41 percent.
The sales tax rate in Ellis County would grow to 8.75 percent if both quarter-cent sales taxes are approved.
Myers said on a $100 purchase that equates to an extra 50 cents in taxes.
Schlyer said if the sales taxes do not pass services will be affected.
“If that sales taxes don’t pass, there’s going to be a noticeable issue with services,” said Schlyer.
Schlyer said the county could consider laying off employees, altering the hours of operations, cutting the county work week to four days, eliminating departments or going from two ambulances on the street at one time to just two.
“As time passes, the system is just going to get bad,” said Schlyer. “We don’t have the revenue to operate.”
If voters were to approve the sales tax for Health Services, Myers said some of the ideas that have been discussed are to completely remove the Health Department from the general fund, transfer funds into the EMS equipment fund to help pay for future purchases including new ambulances and restore funding to High Plains Mental Health.
Myers said they would look to use the approximately $600,000 from the other quarter-cent sales tax to pay for infrastructure improvements. Myers said they could look at a bond issue that could help the county pay for improvements to several roads in the county, including Cathedral Avenue in Victoria, 48th Street north of Walmart and Ellis Avenue north and south of Ellis.
Officials are also hosting several presentations and town hall meetings before the mail-in ballots land in voter’s mailboxes the week of March 23.
Ballots are due back to the Ellis County Clerk’s office by noon on April 7.
There will be an informational town hall on the issue at 6 p.m. at the Hays VFW. Meetings have already been held in Victoria and Ellis.
