Hays Post
Michael Berges and Jim Pfeifer are on the Republican ballot for the First District seat on the Ellis County Commission. The primary will be Tuesday, Aug. 2. The First District represents a portion of Hays and the northwest part of Ellis County, including the city of Ellis.
After the passage of two quarter-cent sales taxes in 2020, the county short-term financial situation has improved but the taxes are scheduled to sunset in 2030. How do you propose the county improve its financial footing in the long term, and do you believe the sales tax should be extended?
This is a tough question to answer right out of the gate because I have to acknowledge that it spans two election cycles, which is a long time to think in public positions. 8 years may not be much in the normal course of work, but I have to jump to some conclusions; that one I am elected to this first cycle of four years and then that I would rerun for a second term and win that term. At the end of a possible second term is when the sales taxes would actually expire. A lot can happen in election cycles, not just District 1 but the other two districts and commissioners over 8 years as well. Economic cycles would also likely influence and determine how the County would approach this, so I do not know if I can actually propose anything at this time with that many unknowns.
What I do know is that the county administrator has already projected out over the next 8 years. We do know the sales taxes have been tremendously impactful and helpful in solidifying the county budget and improving the financial stability each year going forward…until the sales tax expires. At that time, the county budget would project to return to the red side of the ledger. Therefore, there will be necessary talks on how best to put the county on a path of fiscal responsibility over the next several years.
If the sales tax expires then one of those options certainly would be to cut services, cut the amount of employees or offset with raising the mill levy. Another option would be to go to the voters, ask for a 10-year extension, and find areas within the county budget that need to be addressed with a new quarter cent sales tax. The third option to weigh and consider is if the residents of the county pursue a permanent sales tax to avoid these questions in the future.
We also have to consider other sales tax questions in the future that will affect the appetite of our county residents for keeping or dropping sales taxes. When the county sales tax is set to sunset (2030) two years later (2032), the USD 489 sales tax would also be set to sunset or likely be coming back to the voters for extension as well. The economic, political, and fiscal environment in the years leading up to those sales tax questions will be the drivers behind the best decisions on how to handle the sales tax and how the county budget will be impacted.
Those are conversations I am prepared to have with the administrator, with future commissioners, with the community at large to find the best path forward when it comes to budget stabilization. I hope that answers the question sufficiently, but I don't think I can sit here 8 years out with so many unknowns and factors and propose exactly what I would do other than be a part of the process.
Past commissions have earmarked a portion of the sales tax for infrastructure upkeep and improvements. As a commissioner, would you continue to support that effort? Why or why not?
This is a little easier question to answer on the sales tax. Yes, I would continue to be in favor of earmarking portions of that sales tax for infrastructure upkeep. There is no shortage of infrastructure projects that need to be addressed throughout the county. I would say mainly bridges, additionally road, and possibly railroad crossings. Needs are always going to exceed the resources so continuing to dedicate available resources is necessary. The current county commissioners in the last couple of years have done a very good job of budgeting and identifying being able to earmark that money for infrastructure projects.
Kansas has more bridges per capita than any other state, and 70% of the bridges in Kansas are under the jurisdiction of counties. As we know in Ellis County, most of our bridges are well over 50 years old and when constructed were not designed for modern agricultural loads. The county administrator has been working to put together a strategic plan and has identified bridgework and infrastructure work that can be addressed each year over the next several years so we can start to systematically take care of our county. We are going to have to look into some sort of bridge investment program. This means, we need to work towards building excess monies towards infrastructure, and build up a reserve fund. While we are better off addressing improvements systematically, unfortunately things will happen that will need to be addressed immediately when structures fail, as we have seen along the Saline River Bridge. The other importance of building up a reserve fund for infrastructure is it gives the county more opportunities to look for grants, which often ask for matching funds. Therefore, along with just earmarking for infrastructure, I am going to be of the opinion that we also need to build up our reserves so that we can take care of multiple projects when the time comes.
What do you see as the top concern of Ellis County voters over the next few years and what would you do to ease that concern?
I do not have a particular concern; however, I do see a large project coming to the forefront over the next 4 years that will involve multiple departments, entities and governing bodies. It will also certainly involve the county taxpayers and what they believe is going to be the best route to take on this project. This is going to be a project involving the sheriff's department.
I want to clarify first that Sheriff (Scott) Braun is an elected official and I know that the sheriff department is his to run in any fashion that he feels appropriate, I think he does an outstanding job and certainly does not have to take any input from me. I am not going to advocate for any particular direction just outlining what I believe will be occurring over the next several years.
The City of Hays police department and the city management is very seriously considering building a new police building where they would put their own administration, officers and other details of the city police department. That would then vacate some of the shared building that we have now at the sheriff's department and I would be in favor of looking for those opportunities to expand the sheriff's department in the fashion that Sheriff Braun favors regarding expansion or outright new law/judicial/detention center. It is my understanding that we spend over $100,000 a year housing inmates in other countries; however, at one time in our county history it used to be the reverse. Other counties would detain their inmates here in Ellis County and we would charge them and make a profit off it. Therefore, I am interested in finding out if that is a viable path going forward for Ellis County. This is a project that I am looking forward to conversing with our city commissions, Sheriff Braun, Chief Scheibler and the local citizens and taxpayers as we address and secure the safety of our county.
Should the Ellis County Commission be more or less proactive in economic development in the county and, if so, what is the best way to attract business to the area?
I think we need to be more proactive and at the commission level the number one way to accomplish this is from a funding standpoint, so I'm in favor of allocating more funding to what is our economic branch of Ellis county (despite the name) Grow Hays. That organization used to be the Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development and over the years modified into the more targeted organization that it is now. Knowing the people that work there, they are present in Ellis and Victoria looking for opportunities throughout the county for economic growth. They are the ones that are able to dedicate their daily activities to finding opportunities for businesses, for housing, and for quality of life projects that attract people and businesses. The commissioners themselves each have their own day jobs, so it is not really in a commissioner’s description to go out, market, solicit, and try to bring in economic growth. The county administrator, whose job is to administer the county, is also not tasked to go out, market, and solicit economic opportunities. Thus, we have to take advantage of the organization, Grow Hays that does that kind of work every day. There are other groups as well I would look towards that could use additional funding in this area such as the Ellis Alliance Association. The best opportunity for these entities to be able to continue to do work, seek, and solicit economic opportunities is stabilizing their funding. Now, there is certainly a bit of a caveat in that our economic branch has to produce tangible results. The dedicated individuals at Grow Hays have and I know they will do exactly that.
Outside of funding, at a commission level, there are a few other ways to provide options. Taxing incentives might be an attraction for businesses or people to come. Zoning changes could also be a possibility that might allow a business or housing to develop. I have been in favor of these kinds of changes and incentives in the past and would be open to considering them.
The third way that the county can work towards ensuring the best position goes back to maintaining its infrastructure and improving infrastructure. We could give millions of dollars to a new manufacturer to come build here, but if there is not a good road or a bridge to their plant hell many good it does if there’s no access to the plant. Therefore, that piece is on the county to make sure we are in a position that looks attractive for those opportunities. Additionally in conjunction with transportation infrastructure will be the need to address water infrastructure. Our rural water districts currently are not allowing new access points or spigots as a county that prides itself on water conservation; I am not advocating that they need to do that at this time. However, as Hays and Russell come to a resolution with their water through the R9 ranch pipeline, I think we can start having those conversations of how we secure our rural water districts to allow more access points and spigots to help with growth develop out in the county. Those are future conversations and how they get resolved is a big unknown, but I think that is going to be a part of our attraction for economic growth.
The commission has worked with the cities within Ellis County on various projects. Do you see any other opportunities for continued cooperation? Are there areas where the entities need to expand cooperation?
There are going to be plenty of opportunities for the Ellis county commission to work with the various commissions in Ellis, Hays, and Victoria. I know Cathedral road is being addressed. I think there is some additional work that is going to be done to finish out that project in the next year. In the city of Ellis, the county helps with some of their chip seal and overlay with their city streets. I am going to push, and I would be an advocate of doing more for the city of Ellis in town streets. I know Ellis Avenue is a concern for the residents as it leaves the city and long term plans for road widening and pavement for trucks. The 11th Street Bridge in Ellis is going to have to be addressed, I will be pushing to help Ellis out for a solution there.
Around Hays, I think 41st Street will need to be addressed at some point. That would be a larger project probably in the future after the Northwest corridor is completed and that might be the next major project we can look to ease congestion and move traffic. Coordination with multiple entities to address 13th Street in Hays that goes past Hays High out to Commerce Parkway is a road that right now ‘co-owned’. There are sections that are city and sections that are county. I believe there is going to be some work on that road between the state, the school board, city and county. When it is improved then I am going to advocate that the county turn it over to the city of Hays.
I recently attended the Kansas Infrastructure Summit in Wichita, a two-day event going over and informing people from all over the state about the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. We all have a tremendous opportunity to build coalitions of interested parties throughout Ellis County and northwest Kansas to bring grant funds to address our needs. There are many projects requiring collaboration, as a commissioner, I plan to continue my efforts. We are in this together. Each city resident, no matter what city you are in, is also a county resident and so collaboration projects are important.
In your view, what is the primary difference between how you would serve as a county commissioner and the other candidates?
I will start by acknowledging that the county is not going to be in any worse off position with either of us as the representative for District 1. What I know of my primary opponent is that he is a fair dinkum fella that has raised his family well. He is a lifelong resident of Ellis, cares about the county, cares about his neighbors, wants to do right by his community, and is part of a family legacy calling Ellis County home. Those are all qualities that I myself strive for so I do not know if I can speak to differences in how we would serve.
We are at different stages in our lives and backgrounds, so I can certainly speak to what motivates and drives my service to the community. I am in my 40s, married 17 years, with three elementary age boys, we purposefully moved here 15 years ago to start and raise a family. I take a long-term view of what Ellis County will look like in the next 30 years and what we can do in our decision making today so when I am retired, Ellis County is an attractive place that continues to take care of my needs at that age. 30 years from now our kids will be of my current age and what decisions can we make where Ellis County is a viable place for them to put down their roots for employment, for enjoyment, for health, and for safety. I think it would be a blast in 30 years I have so many grandkids running around that my last name becomes as ubiquitous with Ellis County as my primary opponent's last name. This is the viewpoint that I kind of take on decisions in service to our community; a very long generational view and what it takes today to build towards that future.
In what ways does your personal and professional experience qualify you to serve as an Ellis County Commissioner?
I have been serving on the Hays City commission for 3 years now, so I think the positions are parallel and the experience that I have gained can be drawn on when it comes to making public decisions. I have gone through three budget cycles at the city level and many of those budget requests are very similar. We have to budget for roads, budget for safety, budget for employee salaries/benefits, consider budget requests to outside agencies. In that time I have been a part of sales tax questions, mill levy questions, tax incentive districts, and bond issuances. I have also gained experience on how to deal with public issues as they rise and how to conduct meetings. As a city commissioner, I also see the inner workings of how different departments interact with each other, where the requests are coming and what challenges they face. I take some pride in my public service to at least monthly visit a different department and I would continue to do that as a county commissioner.
I can draw on 10+ years of financial advice service when I worked in that particular industry and still maintain all my financial licenses. Looking at numbers is something that I am constantly doing. I work well with percentages. I work well with understanding bonds, interest rates, levy/mills and how those different pieces interact, change and fluctuate. When I worked with clients, tax rates were very important to understand along with property evaluations. Looking at numbers and looking at large numbers is something that I am comfortable. When it comes to budgeting for a large organization and a taxing authority such as the county, I think these all come into play at some point.
I can certainly draw on my current occupation working with a non-profit with grant writing and major gift planning. I just helped successfully write a Community Service Tax grant. Additionally, my wife works for a non-profit and both of the organizations we work with are very county focused. I can draw from the experience of understanding what our social services need to help those in our county that may find themselves in circumstances requiring help. I think these are all valuable insights to be able to use when trying to make decisions that benefit almost 30,000 people in our county. The culmination of these experiences and insights are valuable as we try to grow our county by gaining access to additional resources.
What decision made by the county commission in the last few years did you disagree with and what would have been your decision?
There was a recent decision during the budgeting process that I strongly disagreed. Big Brothers and Big Sisters as an outside agency requested $5,000 from the county to support their efforts in helping kids through adversities as part of their 2023 budget. The county commissioners denied that request because they pointed out that they are giving away $10,000 in the Duck Races and if they did not give that $10,000 out, they could put that towards their operations. That was just a bad conclusion; the $10,000 is a donation from the car dealerships in town as part of the process to help raise funds for that event. The dealerships used to come together to give away a car but in the last couple years with cars being in short supply and the price of vehicles going up, they went to a cash donation. That donation is not part of the fundraising efforts and taken out of the proceeds of the event or taken out of the budget from BBBS. In addition, the commissioners seemed to penalize BBBS in their request because they are fundraising effort is going on currently making it a visible event. If the fundraising had been earlier in the year, they probably would not even be aware of it to this extent to deny the request. Most, if not all the outside agencies typically have some sort of fundraising event during the year and they typically give away some sort of prizes. I just could not understand the conclusion that our commissioners came to in denying fully the request by BBBS. BBBS is the oldest and largest youth mentoring program in the nation, they have a solid and valuable program. The question of their fundraising efforts should have been raised during their presentation (and to all outside agencies if that is the reason) or weeks ahead of time from the commissioners instead of zeroing out their request.
A group of area real estate agents have called for the commission to expand from three members to five. Do you believe the commission would benefit from expansion?
As an individual, I really cannot say whether an expansion of the commission would be a benefit or not. That all rather depends on what situation you are looking to work through. When would more voices in the room help? Most budgetary items are straightforward which could probably get through that quickly with fewer voices. Non-budgetary decisions that are brought to the county commission would probably benefit by having a few more voices in the room.
What I do believe is that it is a fair question we should put to the voters and allow all to decide collectively what we believe is proper representation. It is also not a unique question for Ellis County. Recent examples, Reno County last year put it on the ballot and their residents approved a move from three to five commissioners. I know Pottawatomie County will be having it on their ballot to see if they want to change from three to five commissioners. Therefore, as I look around and talk to people in Ellis County and some of the trends throughout the state it seems like a valid question that should be allowed to be on the ballot so that way we get a final collective answer.
Looking at numbers across the state it does seem to show Ellis County citizens are under-represented on average than other counties citizens. Each Ellis County commissioner represents about 9,700 people and that would grow as we expect the county to grow in population. On average across the 105 counties in the state, each county representative represents about 8,400 people. If you take out the top 20 populous counties, given that Ellis County’s number 21, the 85 counties with less population, their commissioners on average only represent 2,500 people. It does seem to display Ellis county commissioners taking on a larger roll then county commissioners throughout the state. Acknowledging, there are more populous counties that still have three commissioners as well as less populous counties with five. I look at all that and I just come back to putting it on a ballot to allow the registered voters to voice their opinion on what they believe is the best representation.
Opponents of the effort claim that it will make the commission less transparent. Do you agree or disagree? What would you do to ensure transparency?
I would have to talk to an opponent more directly to get a better idea of what exactly is inherently less transparent about having five commissioners instead of three. You could follow that line of thinking and say if five is less transparent than three, then three is less transparent than just having one. Why not just have one person make all the decisions for the county and that would be very transparent. You would know exactly who is making the decisions. As I type that and you read it, we conclude that is just silly. We do not run by dictation. Our government believes in representation, so if you believe in representation then there's no reason to inherently believe that if you get more representation by going three to five, all of a sudden, you become less transparent or a worse governing body. The wanted transparency of a governing body is not determined by the number of people elected but the quality of transparency the elected provide.
This question edges on the border of the logical fallacy of a loaded question. The question does not really allow to be answered in the negative because doing so implies that I do not really care whether I am transparent or not and I am not necessarily going to make any changes. If I answer in the positive about what I would do to be more transparent the question implies if I don't do those things then I again haven’t been a transparent person to start and needed changes are the insurance to transparency; otherwise I would continue to be non-transparent.
Being an elected public official is in itself a transparent position. Our meetings are public and our votes are public. My information for contact; email and phone number is public and I can be readily found on social media platforms. We live in a rural county so my day-to-day activities are straightforward. The public will be able to interact with me consistently and be aware of my availability. Holding elected officials to transparency is incumbent on the public and the media to be active in their role. Asking questions ahead of time, participating in the meetings, being engaged and for the media reporting on official decisions and conclusions. The crux of the issue is every decision has to be made on a yes or no vote. When I vote in which a person agrees with the decision they will naturally believe it has been transparent. Moreover, if on the other side, it is a vote to which a person disagrees, naturally they believe something was being withheld and opaque.
Editor's note: Hays Post compiled a list of relevant questions for all candidates, who received and responded to that same list.