In November, Parsons voters will decide if they want to extend a half cent sales tax used for property tax relief in the city.
The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 4, and the deadline to register to vote is Tuesday, Oct. 14. Advanced ballots will begin to be mailed Wednesday, Oct. 15, and must be returned in one of two ways: Either in person to any polling location in the county on Election Day or the clerk’s office by 7 p.m. on Election Day, or mailed and postmarked on or before Election Day and received in the clerk’s office by Friday, Nov. 7, according to a legal publication issued by the county clerk’s office.
Early voting starts Oct. 15 in the clerk’s office and ends at noon Nov. 3. The Nov. 4 election results are unofficial until the county commission, acting as the board of canvassers, reviews the balloting on Monday, Nov. 17.
The city sales tax that’s on the ballot has been in place since January 1997. The sales tax expires Dec. 31, 2026.
The question voters will consider on Nov. 4 is: “Shall a retailers sales tax in the amount of one-half of one percent (.5%) be reenacted in the City of Parsons, Kansas to be used as a revenue source to reduce the ad valorem property taxes within the city to take effect after the expiration of the previous term, starting January 1, 2027 for a term of ten years to expire December 31, 2036.”
Parsons City Manager Jeff Cantrell told the Sun in an email that the rising costs of basic commodities, health insurance, utilities and other expenses are the primary culprits straining the city’s budget.
“Failure of the sales tax would have a dire impact on the city, so much so that live positions and programming would need to be cut,” Cantrell said.
In 1996, the city commission was considering a large property tax increase but explored alternatives, including the sales tax. The city’s offer to voters was to cut the proposed property tax levy for the 1997 budget by 16 mills to 40.027 mills if the sales tax passed in the August 1996 primary election. Voters approved the half cent sales tax, expected to generate $550,000 a year at the time, with the promise of future property tax relief.
The revised 1997 budget called for $13,447,946 in spending. Of this, $1,376,269 came from property taxes. The original budget called for $1.9 million from property taxes, according to Sun stories from the time.
The mill levy eventually grew in the decades after the sales tax collection started.
See TAX, Page 3.
The property tax climbed more than a mill in 1998, about 3 mills for 2001 (to 45.198 mills) and 3 more mills for 2005. The levy climbed to 47.2 in 2013. Another sales tax was passed in 2013, reducing the property tax levy for the 2014 city budget. This sales tax is for capital improvements for the fire and police departments but also aimed to fund the continuation of current city staffing levels, according to Sun archives.
The property tax levy has been in the low to mid-50s since 2015 (53.6, 53.6, 54.6, 54.6, 54.6, 54.9, 56.6, 56.7, 58, 59.6, 57.89 and an estimated 57.586 mills for 2026).
The owner of a $100,000 home paid $460.31 in property taxes in 1997 to support city operations and in 2026 will pay $662.24, which is the city’s approved mill levy. In that same time period, Kansas home values increased by 171%, according to a report from the Kansas Policy Institute in February.
The city of Parsons has three sales taxes on the books now, totaling 1.5 cents per dollar. Each half cent sales tax generates about $1 million a year. The sales tax that is on the ballot generated $997,000 in 2020, $1.03 million in 2021, $1.11 million in 2022, $1.13 million in 2023, $1.01 million in 2024 and $830,000 into early September, according to a city report on the tax.
When adding the city’s portion of the 1 cent countywide sales tax, sales tax collections for the city total about $4 million a year, which is roughly 17% of the city’s total budget authority of $23,105,896 for 2026. Sales tax collections were as high as $4.9 million in 2024, according to the city report on the tax.
The combined sales taxes create more revenue for the city than property taxes. Property taxes are expected to generate around $3 million in 2026 for the city, according to the city’s budget.
Cantrell said this makes the sales tax vote a key to the city’s finances. He said losing the tax would be “catastrophic.” Without the half cent tax, the city would either have to raise the mill levy 17 to 20 mills, or $195 to $230 a year for residential property owners, or make cuts. A mill is a $1 tax for every $1,000 in valuation, and each mill raises about $60,000 in the city.
“It would adversely impact our future bond rating, resulting in facility closures, deferred capital improvements, lay-offs and consolidations of departments that would become too small to have independent supervisors, cessation of demolition work, fleet deferments,” he said.
“It is vital for the city to obtain a renewal,” Cantrell said.
