Johnson County will delay the Public Safety Sales Tax renewal election to next spring and possibly change the ballot language after Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach’s opinion calling it “unlawful.”
But County Chair Mike Kelly decried the opinion, calling it a “direct attack” on local government.
On Thursday, the Board of County Commissioners agreed to delay the renewal vote to next spring and amend the ballot measure’s language, directing county legal staff to draft a resolution to that effect.
The vote — which followed roughly two hours of closed-door executive sessions — was 6-1, with Commissioner Michael Ashcraft voting no, citing unspecified “reservations.”
Kelly, in comments made from the dais after commissioners returned from executive session, said he sees the attorney general’s opinion as “a direct attack on responsive and responsible local government” and voter-approved investments in public safety.
“The Attorney General doesn’t think that calling 911, or having an ambulance show up at your house to deliver life-saving care or a mental health co-responder counts as public safety,” Kelly said. “I strongly disagree with that. It’s also not his decision to make.”
Kelly added that he was “not going to play politics with people’s lives.”
In an emailed statement to the Post after the county commission meeting on Thursday, Kobach said the board “took the right step in declining to forge ahead with the election,” still maintaining that the county “would be in violation of Kansas law” if the ballot measure were to go before voters this fall.
“As I said when the opinion was issued, seeking review in a Kansas court is a prudent option under these circumstances. As the Attorney General Opinion lays out, Johnson County would be violating Kansas law that limits the authority of local governments to impose sales taxes like this,” Kobach said.
JoCo wants to renew sales tax for public safety initiatives
Originally, the county intended to ask voters to renew the 10-year, quarter-cent public safety sales tax in November, planning to use it on capital and operating costs for the county’s Med-Act ambulance service, sheriff’s office, district attorney, mental health crisis intervention and disaster response.
Now, the question is expected to come to voters in March 2026 instead, and the wording of the question couldfm be modified. The commission’s vote on Thursday directed staff to draft a resolution that would change the language, but specifics about what exactly will be changed were not given during the public portion of the meeting.
If voters ultimately approve extending the tax, then the estimated $54 million raised annually would be split between the county and the cities. Johnson County would get $35 million of that for public safety expenses each year, and the cities would get a combined $19 million to use as they see fit on their own public safety projects.
Johnson County authorized the sales tax in 2016, and it took effect in 2017 to pay for the new district courthouse in downtown Olathe and a medical examiner facility, which have both since been built.
Kobach said proposed sales tax renewal is “unlawful”
Kobach’s office issued the opinion earlier this week at the prompting of Kansas State Sen. Mike Thompson, a Shawnee Republican.
In the opinion, Kobach took particular issue with the county’s plans to use revenue from the sales tax in the future for uses beyond its initial intent to fund the courthouse and medical examiner facility. He also suggested that it should only be used on “physical facilities directly related to law enforcement.”
He said the commission exceeded its authority under state law by bringing the sales tax renewal question to a public vote.
“Because the proposition seeks to institute a new tax under the guise of continuing the current tax, the proposition exceeds the Board’s authority, which means that it is null and void,” Kobach said in his opinion.
On Thursday, the commission also asked the county’s legal counsel to seek clarity on the state law that authorizes Johnson County to have a public safety sales tax election in the first place.
Kelly says opinion shows “outdated” view of public safety
Kelly questioned the intent of the attorney general’s opinion.
He also said the county commission is still focused on public safety funding, adding that he wants voters to “feel confident” that they’re considering “something that’s not only legal and legitimate, but is also necessary and critical.”
“Certain extreme politicians want us to defund this source, to defund police facilities and dispatch radios and to force us to raise your property taxes rather than spread out the costs of providing these services, rather than letting the people vote,” Kelly said.
“Mr. Kobach and Sen. Thompson think they know better,” he continued. “Their outdated concept of public safety is the latest chapter in a long story where extremists have forced property taxes higher and higher while eroding local control and sabotaging voter-backed investments in public safety.”
Though specifics about what exactly the county will change in the sales tax question remain unclear, Kelly said the goal of the move is to “avoid lengthy or costly litigation.”
At the time of publication, Sen. Thompson had not returned the Post’s request for comment.
Next steps for the sales tax:
- The county’s legal staff is working on the resolution to modify the wording of the sales tax question, but there is no specified deadline.
- The county commission will still need to vote to approve that resolution to officially modify and delay the sales tax election.
- The county’s current plan is to hold a special election in March 2026, instead of this November, to take the sales tax renewal to the voters.
- If the election is canceled altogether or voters don’t approve the renewal, then the sales tax will expire in March 2027.
Keep reading: KS AG Kris Kobach calls JoCo’s public safety sales tax election ‘unlawful’
