Kansas, Grandview, Buck Township Property Tax Relief

Edgar Co. (ECWd) –
The Multi-township board made up of Kansas, Grandview, and Buck Townships held their board meeting yesterday.  One of the key items on the agenda was the passage of the tax levy for next year.
Next year’s levy was reduced by 10% in order to bring property tax paying citizens some relief in a time when most public bodies continue to raise taxes.
The Multi-Township Board is made up with the Township Supervisors and Clerks of each township, thus creating a 6 member board.
Considering there is no elected assessor for this Multi-Township, the only purpose of this public body is to tax property owners so that they can pay the county to do the assessments, hire an accountant for the annual filing requirements for the State Comptroller, attorney fees, and insurance.
I have tried for years to abolish this mandated public body as each Township can take care of these matters on their own, which would eliminate the need for another accounting, attorney, and insurance bill.  It would also reduce the burden on the County Clerk’s office as well as the State Comptroller.
If the Governor wants to shake things up I suggest working towards eliminating all Multi-Township public bodies!
For those that don’t follow or understand the impact of a  property tax levy on their pocket book, let me outline the Tax Levy system for Kansas Township, which has a population of 1003 people.
The following tax levies are passed by local government for 1003 people in Kansas Township.

• School District
• Fire Protection District, consisting of Fire, Rescue, and Ambulance levy’s.
• Township
• Library
• Cemetery
• General Road Fund
• Permanent Road Fund
• Construction and Repair of Bridges Fund
• Village
• Multiple Drainage Districts

That list makes up over 12 separate levies to govern the needs of 1003 people covering 47 square miles.  The law says they can increase their levy as much as 5% from the previous year without a truth in taxation hearing, provided they are not at their maximum limited by law.  Most take advantage of that extra 5% increase each year because the people will pay their tax bill and grumble at the coffee shops but do nothing to stop this madness.
Keep in mind that this list is only the local government list!  It does not account for other taxes on your tax bill such as the Lakeland Community College tax that is now reported to increase 24%!
Just think about that list for a second or two and imagine what happens to your wallet if each and every one of them increased their levy 5% each year.  Many of them do so and simply say it’s not that much for each person.  No, not when you only look at ONE of them doing it.  Add them all up and it’s no wonder we see so many people struggling in this community and this state.
The Kansas Township Board has not voted to increase their township and Cemetery levy in years, and we know the Rescue levy for the Fire Department is going to be dropped next year.  Now with a Multi-township reducing the levy by 10%, maybe the rest of the public bodies can can start the trend of property tax relief for their residents.