May 20, 2025
On May 8, 2025 the BOCC voted 6-1 (thank goodness for Commissioner Ashcraft’s common sense no vote) to place on the November 8, 2025 ballot the question: to renew or not to renew the Public Safety 1/4 cent sales tax for an additional 10 years.
So, what’s not to love about the $54 million Public Safety Sales Tax IV???
Oh, just the dirty little secret that instead of the revenue going to a specific construction project, such as financing the construction of the courthouse with the 2016 Public Safety Sales Tax, the county’s portion ($34 million) will be dumped directly into the county’s general fund.
These funds will be vaguely earmarked to pay for public safety, mental health and med-act. However, ALL of those services are currently being paid for by your property taxes.
That is called money laundering. The county used that hat trick with $85 million of COVID dollars which were earmarked for “public safety”.
And then…the $20 million additional dollars will go to the cities in order to get “buy in” from the status quo crowd (must grease the palms) for passage. The total revenue for the first year will be $54 million with 64% going to the county and 36% going to the cities. The cities have no guidelines on expenditures, the bonanza simply goes into their general fund.
With no strings attached, the cities won’t have to go through the money laundering cycle.
BTW is it the county’s responsibility to create a revenue stream for the cities? Every dollar we’re raising for the county’s expenditures is costing us over $1.50. Now that’s cost effective!!!
By placing this sales tax ask on the November ballot, the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) are admitting that the nearly 50% increase in assessed valuation since 2020, YOUR property taxes increasing in tandem, is not enough to satiate their appetite for spending.
And please be aware there is no mention of rolling back your property taxes by 2.1 mills ($16.6 million revenue per mill generated to county) to offset the $34 million in revenue the 1/4 cent sales tax will generate. Nope, just keep on a spendin’ like drunken sailors on leave.
They point out that JoCo’s population is exploding, thus increasing costs. Really? In 2009 our population was 539,000, today it is approximately 630,000 or a 17% increase in 16 years, or just over 1% annually. Wow, that line is a whopper!!
Then the BOCC states the need for additional resources for our Mental Health Department.
The facts: the state has sent millions to Johnson County beginning in 2022 for mental health. In 2020 there were 330 full time employees (FTEs) and this year there are 487 FTEs (a 47.5% increase).
Expenditures for the department went from $36.8 million in 2020 to the current budget of $69.2 million or a 90% increase. And that is not sufficient?
Has your personal budget increased 82% since 2020? Mine certainly has not.
This is beyond scandalous for the BOCC to ask the residents of Johnson County to hand over a $34 million blank check going into the general fund instead of having a specific construction project to pay for.
Maybe they could fund the 150,000 square foot Public and Mental Health building being built for the obscene cost of nearly $1,000 per square foot? That approximately $135 million could be paid off in 5 years. At least we would have an actual asset instead of watching our property taxes increase while the BOCC rolls in the dough from the sales tax.
Gee, I wonder what BOCC Chairman Kelly will do with an extra $34 million sloshing around in the general fund? Maybe a super deluxe homeless shelter in the backyard of his $$$ million dollar plus home? Or, take his county DEI and Sustainability Coalitions on numerous EU tours to say hi to his supporters in Europe or say hi to his buddies in the Global Covenant of Mayors as described in this wonderful YouTube video.