The half-cent sales tax for parks, recreation and stormwater does not expire for another year, but for parks supporters its renewal is always a topic of interest.
Commissioners held a special administrative session Monday, Jan. 14 including a presentation on the budget from county auditor Kevin Robinson. Commissioners eventually approved the budget by unanimous vote, but not before an hour of varied discussions, including the parks tax and county jail.
During the public hearing that followed, several community members spoke up, mostly to ask commissioners to appropriate additional funding to parks to update the department’s parks master plan.
A master plan was crafted in 2000 and updated in 2009, with the update intended to cover the parks department through 2030.
Parkville resident Dean Katerndahl — who also serves as chair of that city’s planning and zoning commission — asked commissioners to not only update the strategic plan but to also place the parks tax on the ballot for renewal at a full half cent.
Commissioners have long said they plan to seek a reduction in the parks tax when it is placed before voters for renewal next year.
David Park also asked commissioners to renew the tax at its full half-cent, then upped the ante. He suggested commissioners allocate $100,000 to complete an updated park master plan because the situation in the county has changed since 2009. Parks and recreation trends have shifted, new sports such as pickle ball have become popular and the Shiloh Springs Golf Club has been sold to a private firm.
Park also suggested considering creating a permanent sales tax for park maintenance and using a renewable tax for capital improvements.
Second district commissioner John Elliott took exception to Park’s suggestions, stating that law enforcement needs trump what parks supporters may want.
“We are constitutionally obligated to as a county to operate a jail and to fund the offices of the county,” Elliott said. “We have no constitutional obligation to fund pickle ball courts.”
Elliott said county government priorities have been “jacked up for way too long” and he was strongly opposed to dedicating additional tax funding to parks. The City of Kansas City has its own dedicated parks tax, he said, and with Parkville seeking voter approval of its own half-cent dedicated parks tax in April it was time for the county to focus its efforts elsewhere.
Presiding commissioner Ron Schieber agreed, saying Platte County taxpayers in Kansas City have been an “ATM machine” for Kansas City’s parks department for many years.
“I think it’s time for others to take the lead in park development,” Schieber said.
After hearing from Park and Katerndahl, a familiar face to many parks supporters spoke out.
The county’s former assistant director of parks Jim Kunce, who currently serves on the county parks board, said he believes the 2019 budget is fiscally responsible and that park spending is in line with the intent of the original master plan.
Kunce was part of the department during the 2009 master planning process and said an expensive revision of the plan is not warranted. If anything, he suggested a “health check” on the plan, with some minor revisions possibly made.
Commissioners noted that current director of parks and recreation Daniel Erickson did do an internal check of department projects within the last couple of years.
Erickson said while he hadn’t planned to speak at the meeting, that his findings were that current parks projects were mostly in line with the master plan.
Sheriff Mark Owen said he hadn’t planned to speak at the hearing either, but appreciated the commissioners’ support for law enforcement.
“I’m the one who asked for the jail,” Owen said of the discussions on a possible new detention center. “I’ve asked for a new jail since I took office.”
Owen said two studies conducted in his department have found a need for more beds in the facility. Originally built to hold 154 inmates, the detention population on Monday was 172.
The current jail was built in the late 1990s and came as a result of a lawsuit. Owen has long held that the county needs to address overcrowding before a similar situation forces their hand again.
Funding for staff salaries has also been a topic of discussion, with Platte County competing against Kansas City and St. Joseph to retain officers.
“We’re the most affluent county in the state, you would think we could pay our people enough to keep them,” Owen said.
The budget does include a modest salary bump for all county employees, including sheriff’s office staff. Additionally, funding was allocated to hire additional deputies this year.
During his presentation early in the meeting, Robinson requested the commissioners place the Zona Rosa payment appropriation back in the 2019 budget. Robinson included the payment appropriation in his recommended budget, which was released in November.
Schieber thanked Robinson for his suggestion, but said the commission’s budget letter outlines the commissioners’ reasoning to omit the appropriation. He said the commission would have no further comment on the matter, due to pending litigation.