Shawnee is proposing a flat property tax rate for 2025. However, with inflation and cooling sales tax revenue, it’s unclear whether the city council will go for it or try for a fourth straight year of reducing the local levy.

On July 8 at the Shawnee Council Committee meeting, City Manager Paul Kramer outlined the city’s proposed 2025 budget.

Included in the plan is city staff’s suggestion for a flat tax rate of 23.047 mills, identical to what Shawnee City Council approved last year.

What do “mills” actually mean?
• One mill is equivalent to $1 for every $1,000 of assessed property value.
• Assessed property values are 11.5% of appraised, or market, values for residential properties. (So, a home appraised at $300,000 has an assessed value of $34,500.)
• So, divide your home’s assessed value by $1,000 and multiply that by a taxing jurisdiction’s mill rate to figure out how much in annual property taxes you will owe for that jurisdiction’s share of your annual tax bill.

The city has reduced the mill rate three years in a row

City staff also proposed a flat tax for its 2024 budget last year, but the city council voted instead to reduce the mill levy by 1.0 mill from the 2023 rate.

That reduction was the third consecutive year the council lowered the mill rate.

Home values in Johnson County continue to grow, up 10% from 2023, with the median listing price of $409,702, according to Rocket Mortgage.

In addition, overall property valuation growth in Shawnee is expected to increase at about 6.6% next year with the average increase for residential properties expected to rise 6.3%.

Meanwhile, sales tax revenue is expected to cool substantially. Shawnee’s 2025 forecast shows an increase of about 2%, compared to 9.3% in 2022 and 9.5% in 2024, according to city documents.

Two councilmembers were vocal about reducing the mill levy

Councilmember Tony Gillette, who supported the 2024 mill levy decrease, expressed similar support for another cut this year, citing Kramer’s forecast that sales tax revenue, while down from previous years, would still bring in about $2.5 million more for the city.

“Our sales tax revenues are projected to be at $2.5 million income more for 2025,” he said. “So surely, our citizens can get one mill (decrease) — around a million dollars — to ease the burdens on our taxpaying citizens. I think we should definitely go down (that) route.”

Councilmember Mike Kemmling also expressed his support for another mill reduction.

“On some level, I guess I don’t fully understand why, if the mill levy is a percentage of the value in the city grows, why that built-in increase in the property value doesn’t seem to be enough?” he said.

He added: “As the city grows, you would think there would be some sort of economies of scale whereas we get larger, you can do it for cheaper. I mean, that’s how the free market tends to work: The more I can produce, the cheaper I can make each unit. And that seems to be the opposite of what’s happened.”

Other councilmembers were mixed on another reduction

Two newer councilmembers, Jeanie Murphy and Sierra Whitted, expressed their support for a flat tax, to see what the next year looks like in terms of the city’s revenue.

“We’ve had a couple of good years that really boosted our coffers,” Murphy said. “But now our sales taxes are down. We don’t know what interest rates are going to be. And I think this would be a bad time to reduce the mill. I think this is a good time to hold steady.”

While happy that the city has been able to keep a balanced budget, councilmember Kurt Knappen also suggested it would be a good time to hold static on the mill levy rate.

“It does feel to me this year that it would be time to pause, see what happens with the economy,” he said.

Other councilmembers, like Angela Stiens and Jacklynn Walters, said they needed more information before deciding where they stand.

“I love that we have lowered the mill levy, and we’ve still kept that reserve,” Stiens said. “But on the flip side, I am a little in between just because … the inflation costs have gotten so high and there’s just been a lot of cost increases and expenses and things like that.”

The next steps for Shawnee’s 2025 budget

• To give the public a better understanding of the proposed 2025 budget, the city will host a Budget Open House from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, July 30, at Shawnee 1929 Town Hall, 11600 Johnson Dr.
• They also have a detailed schedule and plan for the budget on the city’s website.
• The council will vote on the final 2025 budget at its Aug. 26 meeting

Go deeper: Watch Kramer’s 2025 budget proposal to the council committee