'Impossible' petition to require public vote before raising taxes in Topeka

TOPEKA (KSNT) - A Topeka man is petitioning the City of Topeka to require a public vote before raising property taxes. The city says it would make it "impossible" to raise property taxes to keep up with the city budget.

Earl McIntosh is gathering signatures under Kansas Statute 12-3013. With the help of more than 75 petition gatherers, the group now has over 3,600 signatures. If his petition is adopted, the city would need to call a public vote before raising property taxes. Washburn University Associate Dean for Centers and Eternal Programs Shawn Leisinger says the city must respond.

McIntosh said with the cost of living and property taxes rising, residents are struggling to keep up. He believes property taxes are the number one issue in Topeka.

"Homeownership in Topeka is in peril or dire trouble and the dire trouble is people on fixed incomes, working homeless, working homeless adult kids moving back in with their parents," McIntosh said.

Here are the deadlines for the city to raise property taxes, a process known as the revenue neutral rate:

• June 15 – The county determines how much the city needs to collect to meet the previous year’s budget.
• July 20 – The city must decide if it will raise property taxes.
• August 15 – The city must hold a public hearing if it wants to increase property taxes.
• August 15 – The city informs the county of the approved property tax increase.

27 News reached out to the City of Topeka regarding McIntosh's petition. City spokeswoman Rosie Nichols says the petition would make it "impossible" to raise the city budget.

"The state set the procedure... and it has very tight timelines," Nichols said. "Requiring a public vote would make it impossible to ever exceed the revenue neutral rate due to timing issues. There are also legal restrictions on when a city can hold a public vote."

Leisinger says the city argues that the petition would go against state law on raising property taxes.

"If we [the state] tell you how to do this, then that's how we told you to do this," Leisinger said. "And we don't give the public a right to come back and say: nope the City of Topeka is going to do this differently than every taxing body in the state."

McIntosh says his next step is to collect more signatures. He says his group won't turn in the petition until he has 4,000 to 5,000 signatures in case any signatures are thrown out. He says the group may submit the petition this fall.

"They can absolutely do it [petition the city] and they [the City of Topeka] absolutely need to respond," Leisinger said.

According to Leisinger, the petition will need to be reviewed to determine if McIntosh has valid signatures, then city attorneys will respond to whether the petition is valid. Finally, it will go in front of a judge.

"I don't think the process, specifically this process, is going to allow it," Leisinger said. "I think if a judge gets in front of them, the judge is going to look at this and say, you know, the state has a very precise process for this. This is not something that's open to interpretation or change. But you never know."

For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here.