Overland Park recently opted out of a state law that would have put restrictions on the city’s authority to issue bonds to help fund public developments and infrastructure projects.
The move was necessitated by the fact that Overland Park recently surpassed more than 200,000 residents, according to the latest U.S. Census.
Under a state law from the 1950s, cities of that size in Kansas must hold public elections to issue at least $200,000 in bonds.
The law, which Overland Park officials have called “outdated,” predates both the city of Overland Park itself and the Home Rule constitutional amendment that deferred community control in Kansas to local governments.
The only other city in Kansas where the law would apply is Wichita, which voted to opt out of the same requirement three decades ago.
Each year, Overland Park issues millions of dollars in bond debt to help finance its numerous public projects, including road construction, new facilities and other initiatives.
Without adopting a new charter ordinance opting out of the $200,000 rule, Overland Park would be virtually unable to do any project backed by bond financing, city documents said.
Last week, the Overland Park City Council voted 10-0 to opt out of the state law through a new charter ordinance. Councilmembers Jeff Cox and Sam Passer were absent.
Overland Park recently surpassed 200K residents
Earlier this month, the Kansas Secretary of State officially certified Overland Park’s population as nearly 203,000, making it subject to state law K.S.A. 13-1024c, which limits bonding authority for public projects.
Before July, the official population of Overland Park was 197,000.
Even with that lower population number, Overland Park was subject to a different state statute that required first class cities — any city with a population greater than 15,000 — to hold elections before issuing bonds greater than $100,000 for public projects.
But Overland Park opted out of that law in the 1990s.
Wichita — Kansas’ biggest city with a population of nearly 400,000 — is the only other city in Kansas subject to the $200,000 bond authority rule. That city opted out of the law in 1995 with a charter ordinance of its own.
Overland Park City Attorney Michael Koss called the state laws in question “outdated.”
Overland Park to issue $34M in bonds in 2026
Through it’s capital improvement project list, Overland Park plans out its public improvement projects at least five years in advance and outlines a variety of funding sources for them.
One of those funding sources is bonds, a type of debt financing used to pay for upfront capital costs that the city can pay off in the future with money from a bond and interest fund outlined in its annual budget.
Bonds help pay for a myriad of projects, like parks, new buildings, street improvements and major road projects.
In 2026, Overland Park expects to use $34 million in bond proceeds to pay for public projects, according to the capital improvement list (Pg. 69), including money for constructing a new farmers market structure downtown, among other things.
Under state law, cities can issue a maximum of 30% of its assessed value in General Obligation Bonds, the type of municipal bond Overland Park issues for capital projects.
Per the city’s capital improvements plan, Overland Park’s total debt amounts to less than 5% of the market value of all property within city limits (Pg 16).
Bonding authority has been hot topic in another JoCo city
The city of Prairie Village is currently wrapped up in a separate tussle over municipal bonding authority.
The city wants to use bonds to help finance a $30 million new city hall and police department project.
But a resident has sued the city in federal court, arguing the city does not have the authority to issue bonds for the project without a public vote. The suit argues a Prairie Village ordinance passed nearly a decade ago exempting the city from seeking voter approval for some projects backed by bonds is unconstitutional.
That lawsuit was originally filed in Johnson County District Court before the resident withdrew it and refiled it at the federal level earlier this month.
The city has said the lawsuit is likely to delay both the issuance of bonds and the project’s overall timeline.
Juliana Garcia contributed to this story.
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