We oppose the creation of any new Residential Benefit Districts in Olathe KS and we demand the completion of College Boulevard from Clare Road to South Cedar Niles Boulevard through the CIP process, funded exclusively by City-at-Large dollars." Furthermore we request that you repeal approved Resolution: 08-1071 and 20-1013 or lower the outrageous assessment amounts given to homeowner's impacted. 

What is a Residential Benefit District (RBD)?

• Olathe City Council Policy: Growth pays for itself
• Mechanism to finance the costs of new infrastructure
• Property within defined geographic boundaries pays special assessments
• Special assessments appear on property tax bills and are paid like other property taxes
• May be created by petition of the majority property owner(s), usually the developer. If the petition meets all statutory requirements, City Council may adopt a resolution creating the proposed benefit district.

Why do we oppose the creation of any new Residential Benefit Districts in Olathe?

Developers have used RBDs to tax homeowners for roads and other infrastructure to build new subdivisions and surrounding roads. In most cities in Johnson County the cost for this is born by the developer, and the lots he/she sells cover the expenses with the price of the lot.

Most Cities tell developers "You build it and you pay for it". They don't expect the local citizens to be taxed for 20 years to contribute to the developer’s expense. In Olathe, developers receive City Council support which allows developers to enrich themselves by taxing homeowners to pay for an item(s) the developer should have paid for when the lot was sold.

Homeowners already pay sales and property tax. To be required to pay an additional tax not voted on by the citizens that live in the benefit district is taxation without representation. It is also a triple tax!  Special assessments can range on average from $10,000 to $50,000. 

This poor city policy is also what we consider to be Olathe's unknown third tax as many people moving to Olathe are unaware of this SPECIAL TAX and policy, a policy that not only enables but encourages the practice.

We believe this type of taxation is unfair, unjust, uncalled for and nonsense. We also believe it hurts the resale values of homes which receive 20-year tax assessments. We ask this question? Why would anyone in their right mind want to move to Olathe if they are going to be assessed a RESIDENTIAL BENEFIT DISTRICT TAX AKA a SPECIAL ASSESSMENT?

We demand that College Boulevard be built from Clare Road to South Cedar Niles Boulevard? Why do we demand this?

College Boulevard has a narrow 2 lane road that runs from Clare Road to South Cedar Niles Road. It is very dangerous for bike riders, joggers and other pedestrians.  There is no sidewalk for pedestrians or school children. This part of College is also dangerous to drive a car at certain times during the day and during certain weather conditions.

The road at one point was scheduled to be funded by the City. Recently the Cedar Creek Development Company attempted to have homeowners help pay for it by petitioning the city to utilize an RBD. This petition was defeated after homeowners pooled their own money to hire attorneys. These attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of the residents and with this threat, along with an email campaign and pressure on city leaders, the developer withdrew his RBD proposal. 

The behavior by the City was uncalled for and unnecessary because at one point city leaders felt it was an important street project and it was to be funded. Sadly, sometime in early 2020 the Capitol Improvement Project (CIP) list was updated and the extension of College Blvd was left out.

We demand that City Council members put College Boulevard back in the current CIP and immediately begin the process of getting the road built. We also insist that they do not allow any further RBDs be initiated by developers to seek local homeowners to be assessed taxes to pay for College Boulevard. Existing homeowners in Cedar Creek already pay enough taxes. We don't need to be taxed a third time. 

Finally, we request that you repeal or modify the 2 Benefit Districts passed by the City Council:  Resolution: 08-1071 and 20-1013.  Why?

Both benefit districts have placed an unfair and unnecessary burden upon the new homeowners living in the Valley Ridge and Meadows neighborhoods of Cedar Creek. Both of these measures place a triple tax on these homeowners. Quite a few of these homeowners were not even aware of the tax until after they moved in. We think they paid enough for the roads, the sewers and other infrastructure already by the price they paid for their lots. To request that they keep paying for 20 years is a brutal hardship that they should not be forced to pay. If you are unable to repeal the districts we would, at minimum, ask that a resolution be passed by the City Council reducing the overall cost of the total assessment to half of what it currently is and for the city to chip in to help offset the $1.01 per Sq. Ft which is grossly out of proportion with other prior benefit districts.  

 

NOTE: ****Prior to approving and completing this petition: Please copy this information into an email and send immediately to the City Council. 

Copy this list of email addresses into your address bar: 
jbacon@olatheks.org,lcampbell@olatheks.org, kbrownlee@olatheks.org, kpgilmore@olatheks.org, rwmccoy@olatheks.org, amickelson@olatheks.org, mvogt@olatheks.org.

Copy this into the subject line: STOP RESIDENTIAL BENEFIT DISTRICTS IN OLATHE KS & BUILD COLLEGE BOULEVARD

Copy this into the body of the email:

Dear Honorary Councilmen and Mayor:

I stand in opposition to any new Residential Benefit Districts being initiated in Olathe Ks. These are my reasons:

1. I believe developers should pay the entire cost for roads, sewers, utilities or other infrastructure in building new homes in Olathe. No tax subsidies, including monies from benefit districts, should be utilized to offset these costs. 

2. When benefit districts are utilized under current city policy, homeowners suffer by having to pay extra taxes on top of what they already pay, which includes City Sales Tax and Property Tax. I consider this a Triple tax and it is unfair.

3. Benefit districts harm the resale value of a home. When a home is attached a 20-year tax assessment the property is more difficult to sell.  In addition, as just one example, buyers can cross K-10 and buy the same priced house in Lenexa with no benefit district tax. 

4. A benefit district is the redistribution of wealth from the middle class to multi-millionaire developers; it is Trickle Up economics and the worst tax and economics policy possible.

5 The City of Olathe has repeatedly poorly communicated with new subdivisions, or subdivisions close to where new roads and sewers are to be built, that may be in a proposed Benefit District Area.

6. The process of creating benefit districts in Olathe is flawed. It does not allow for participation by homeowners with city staff, particularly while the same city staff is meeting with developers hashing out the details of a benefit district.

7. The system which currently allows benefit districts to be initiated by a single majority landowner is not fair. Rather, the benefit district should only occur when a majority of homeowners are confident it is in their best interest to proceed with one. 

8. The majority of local cities and jurisdictions in Johnson County no longer utilize benefit districts because their local citizens have an aversion to them. 

Furthermore, I request that you immediately place the building of College Boulevard back into the CIP. These are my reasons:

1. The road is unsafe for both cars, pedestrians and bikers.  There is no sidewalk for school children or pedestrians. 

2. The road from Clare Rd to South Cedar Niles Boulevard was on the Capitol Improvement Project list but taken out. Why? This makes no sense and the City has offered no reasonable explanation.

3. I fear that, if you do not fund College Boulevard, the developer will once again attempt to initiate a benefit district to pay for it and I already feel like I pay enough in taxes in Cedar Creek.

 Finally, we request that you repeal or modify the 2 Benefit Districts passed by the City Council:  Resolution: 08-1071 and 20-1013. 

1.Both benefit districts have placed an unfair and unnecessary burden upon the new homeowners living in the Valley Ridge and Meadows neighborhoods of Cedar Creek. Both of these measures place a triple tax on these homeowners.

2. Quite a few of these homeowners were not even aware of the tax until after they moved in. We think they paid enough for the roads, the sewers and other infrastructure already by the price they paid for their lots. To request that they keep paying for 20 years is a brutal hardship that they should not be forced to pay.

3. If you are unable to repeal the districts we would, at minimum, ask that a resolution be passed by the City Council reducing the overall cost of the total assessment to half of what it currently is and for the city to chip in to help offset the $1.01 per Sq. Ft which is grossly out of proportion with other prior benefit districts.  

I look forward to your response:

 

Sincerely,

 

TYPE YOUR NAME FIRST AND LAST AND INCLUDE YOUR ADDESS AND THEN SEND TO CITY COUNCIL. THANKS FOR HELPING OUT!!!!