A few more Prairie Village homeowners could become eligible for the city’s property tax rebate and home improvement grant programs under changes the council is considering enacting for 2025.
The set of three resident rebate programs in Prairie Village are up for renewal for next year.
The Prairie Village City Council last week during a council committee of the whole session forwarded the renewal motions with some proposed changes to the full city council for final approval.
The three programs include a property tax rebate program aimed at lower-income households, as well as two separate programs aimed at incentivizing homeowners to make exterior improvements and sustainability upgrades to their properties.
Other cities like Lenexa, Merriam, Mission and Roeland Park all have similar grant programs for home exterior improvements and property tax rebates.
Home value, income level thresholds could be raised
Before 2025, the city council could approve increasing both the home value and income level eligibility thresholds for the programs.
More specifically, the city council is considering increasing the appraised value maximum for home’s eligible for the exterior grant program from $400,000 to $425,000.
The council is also weighing whether to increase the maximum property value for homes eligible for the property tax rebate program to $523,805.
Application period would start earlier in 2025, too
Other changes the city is considering making for the programs include:
- reallocating leftover funds to the 2025 budgets, taking the exterior grant program to $80,500 total and the sustainability grant program to $40,000;
- maintaining an income level threshold of 65% of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s regional median family income for a four-person household for the property tax rebate program;
- and opening the exterior and sustainability grant applications a month earlier next year, on Jan. 15.
Rentals would be excluded from receiving grants
During the committee of the whole discussion last week, Councilmember Inga Selders also made a motion to exclude rental properties from being eligible for either the exterior or sustainability grant programs.
Selders said she doesn’t want her property taxes going to rental owners to fix up their properties. Mayor Eric Mikkelson pushed back, saying that was part of why the exterior grant program was started in the first place.
One rental property owner received a sustainability grant in 2024, and two received exterior grants this year, Deputy City Administrator Nickie Lee said.
Selders’s motion was approved in a 8-1 vote, with Councilmember Terry O’Toole casting the lone dissenting vote. Councilmembers Tyler Agniel, Ian Graves and Ron Nelson were absent.
The city council still needs to formally approve the programs and the rental eligibility change at a future city council meeting.
Next steps:
- The city council is expected to consider final approval of the programs for 2025, with the above allocations and changes, at a future meeting.
- City council meetings start at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 7700 Mission Rd.
Go deeper: Watch the entire city council discussion about the programs online here, starting at 2:40:06.
