KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Wyandotte County residents say they’re fearful of potential tax increases in the 2025 budget and they plan to voice their concerns at Thursday’s commission meeting.
After 60 years in Wyandotte County, Curtis Martin and his friends don’t have much of a view anymore.
“Right now, we don’t have nothing,” Martin said. “We paying outrageous taxes for nothing.”
His car shop is at Quindaro Boulevard and Hickam Drive and his taxes are getting steep.
“They doubled this last year,” Martin said. “Used to be like $1,500, now it’s $2,600 a year.”
Martin's taxes could go up again.
A resolution on Thursday’s Unified Government Board of Commissioners agenda outlines “an intent to exceed revenue neutral rate.”
“If we were to stay with revenue neutral, your taxes would stay the same as last year,” said Pamela Penn-Hicks, a community member who, along with another community member, Cece Harlin, explained the resolution to a group of senior citizens in the area.
Taxes go up if the commission votes to exceed revenue neutral.
“Who else is going to do it?” Harlin asked. “A lot of people’s grandkids have moved out of Wyandotte County. I adopt grandparents all the time, so the more the merrier.”
Harlin says elderly residents are often overlooked when it comes to paying taxes.
“I think they’re fearful that they’re not going to listen to us when we say we can’t afford it,” Harlin said.
She’s encouraging everyone she can to attend Thursday’s commission meeting to voice their opinions.
A commission spokesperson said community members also are welcome to sit in on the seventh budget workshop with the Unified Government Commission at 5 p.m. before the full meeting.
In that meeting, the commissioners will reveal “information shared about [its] current financial status, efforts to address [its] budget process and fiscal sustainability, and other important considerations.”
Harlin says despite feeling unheard in the past, her attendance is necessary.
“I don’t care how high it gets, I’m going to be right here, getting on your nerves,” she said.
Martin plans to stay in Wyandotte County, but he’s hoping that his community can band together.
“Once they come out of the house and step up to the table, something might get done,” Martin said.
