Olathe City Council candidates discuss taxes, apartments, traffic safety and more at Post forum

Candidates vying for two seats on the Olathe City Council shared their views on the future of one of Johnson County’s most historic communities, which has also continued to grow and change in recent years.

At a forum hosted by the Johnson County Post on Wednesday, the candidates dug into their budgeting priorities, views on the city’s property tax rate and the coming project to remake the interchange at I-35 and Santa Fe, among other topics.

The Olathe forum took place on the final night of 12 scheduled nights of local candidate forums that The Post hosted across Johnson County ahead of the Nov. 4 election.

The event was held on the campus of K-State Olathe, 22202 W. Innovation Dr., in northwestern Olathe.

Who is running?

At-large

• Jeff Creighton
• Rob Olson

Ward 4

• Kevin Deneault
• Marge Vogt

*NOTE: Current Ward 3 Councilmember LeEtta Felter is running unopposed and was not invited to participate in this forum.

How to watch the Post’s forum

The Post livestreamed Wednesday’s event on our Facebook page. A recording of the forum can be viewed there, though it is now Facebook’s policy to erase live videos 30 days after they are produced.

You can also watch the full Olathe forum on the Post’s new YouTube channel, where it should be preserved into the future.

The full forum video is also embedded below:

Questions

The candidates gave opening statements and answered a series of questions based on reader feedback and suggestions received by the Post before and during the event.

The Post also asked a number of questions directly from the audience, submitted via index card during the event.

Timestamps are included at the end of each question to help you navigate through the forum video if you’d like to jump around to issues that matter most to you.

1. Opening statements [3:27]
2. Challenge/priority: What is the next big challenge for the Olathe City Council? And how will you address it over the next four years on the board? [8:28]
3. Tax increment financing: This question comes from the audience. “What financial benefit does the city derive from TIF [tax increment financing] money to existing businesses?” [16:08]

   

4. Apartments: We often hear from readers who are skeptical of or downright opposed to the building of more apartments, especially if they are near their single-family neighborhood. Do you think Olathe currently has too many apartments? What would be your approach towards assessing future proposed apartment developments for approval? [21:20]
5. I-35/Santa Fe project: A question from the audience that asks, “With the upcoming I-35/Santa Fe interchange project, the city has a big opportunity. What is your number one priority as it pertains to this project?” [26:45]

   

6. Traffic: A question from the audience. This person asks, “Roundabouts, stop signs or traffic signals. Which one do you prefer? And why?” [32:38]
7. Property taxes: We frequently hear from readers urging cities to consider tax rate cuts or other relief to counteract the impacts of rising valuations in Johnson County. It’s the job of each city’s governing body to set your city’s annual mill levy, or property tax, rate. For 2026, the Olathe City Council recently approved a budget that includes a flat mill levy rate of roughly 23 mills. But some councilmembers acknowledged rising bills that residents are facing and suggested more could be done to find relief. Would you vote for steeper tax rate cuts, as residents often call for? Is there anything else the city can do to bring tax relief? [37:45]

   

8. Infrastructure: Two years ago, Olathe voters opted overwhelmingly to renew the city’s ⅛-cent sales tax that goes towards park improvements. There’s also a ⅜-cent sales tax on the books that funds street maintenance. What do you see as the biggest infrastructure challenge facing Olathe over the next four years and will you ensure the city can afford paying for it? [44:59]
9. Use of AI: This also comes from the audience, I believe it’s the same person who asked about roundabouts and traffic signals earlier, but they want to know how you think artificial intelligence should be used in traffic management. We can broaden the scope of that question to ask, how do you think city hall and Olathe city government should use AI more generally in managing operations? [50:17]

   

10. Items that scored lower on resident survey: A question from the audience points out that in the most recent resident survey, the item “effective communication with residents” had one of the lower positivity ratings among a dozen categories that residents responded to. We looked it up, “effective communication” got about 79% positive rating. There were other lower ones, including “sense of community” was at 65% and “promoting diversity” was at 58%. Let me ask it this way, of those three lower rated categories — communication with residents, sense of community and promoting diversity — which one concerns you the most? [56:00]
11. Differentiate yourself: This comes from the audience and this person says, “Without using platitudes, differentiate yourself from your opponent.” I’d also say, why should voters vote for you? [1:02:48]