Shawnee County commissioners blast 'disappointing' sales tax vote from Topeka City Council

Shawnee County commissioners Thursday blasted Topeka’s governing body for a “disappointing move” after the city tacked on an amendment to the countywide sales tax agreement that would give the city more power over economic development decisions.

After nearly 15 months, the city’s governing body Tuesday approved an agreement that spells out how about $262 million in sales tax revenue geared toward economic development and infrastructure will be spent over the next 15 years. Before passing the agreement, though, the group approved Councilman Richard Harmon’s motion calling for all 10 city governing body members to have Joint Economic Development Organization board votes.

JEDO oversees how sales tax revenue is spent. Currently all three county commissioners and four city council members have voting rights on the board. Harmon’s amendment would give the bulk of JEDO’s power to the city. That move sparked criticism from the county commission.

Commissioner Kevin Cook called the move “a power grab” and a bad deal for the county. Cook worried how such an agreement would affect the way the county and city work together on future projects. The county, in his opinion, has worked hard to form a positive relationship with the city’s governing body. The tax agreement passed Tuesday jeopardizes that relationship.

“I don't believe the city council is taking this interlocal agreement very seriously,” he said.

The commission has to approve or revise the city’s version of the agreement. If it came to a vote on this agreement, Cook said he would consider voting against levying the tax at all.

“I’d rather walk away from a bad deal than to burden the taxpayers with 15 years,” he said.

Shawnee County residents voted in favor of the tax on Nov. 6, 2014, but the ballot item listed the projects the extension would finance, not the amounts they would receive.

Archer, who in the past has been critical with the city’s indecisiveness about the tax agreement, said he was also disappointed and wouldn’t comment further on the city’s move.

In recent months the city’s indecisiveness has caused a back-and-forth between the city and county.

In December, before the city began to seriously consider the agreement, the county commission urged council members to pass something before the end of the year. The council instead deferred action on it for nearly two months. At one point the council deferred action so the commission could weigh in on changes to the original agreement, which the commission refused to do until council members cast their vote.

Now, commission chairwoman Shelly Buhler said the city’s decision to grab more JEDO seats may further damage the two governing bodies’ ability to come to agreement.

“This took a hard turn on the focus of the interlocal agreement,” she said.

The county may take up the city’s version of the agreement on Feb. 11 or 15, Buhler said. The county will have to pass the city’s version, or revise it before sending it back to the city for a final vote.

JEDO contracts with Go Topeka to provide economic development incentives and is partially reliant on sales tax funding. Scott Griffith, Go Topeka board president, said he was surprised the city wanted to give voting power to all 10 governing body members. He stressed that it is important for the city and county to work “harmoniously.”

“I think they need to have a balanced and equal representation on the JEDO board,” he said. “The current structure has been fair and worked well.”

For the tax to go into effect, the county must give notice to the Department of Revenue by September.

The city passed the interlocal agreement 8-1, with one abstention, but Harmon’s amendment passed 8-3 with Mayor Larry Wolgast, Councilwoman Sylvia Ortiz and Councilwoman Sandra Clear dissenting. Harmon pitched the amendment as a way to give the city’s governing body more accountability.

Harmon said 100 percent of Topeka residents pay the half-cent sales tax but only one-third of city council members — plus the mayor — have voting rights on the JEDO board, though all three county commissioners have a vote.

Ortiz on Tuesday said she dissented because she said it was unlikely the county would support such a move.

“We want it,” she said. “I bet they don’t want it. It’s coming back to us. So then what do we do?”