FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 24, 2024
Commission Reduces Tax Levy to Near Zero, Offering Relief to Property Taxpayers
On Tuesday at a special Commission Administrative session, the Platte County Commission voted unanimously to reduce the County’s property tax levy from .06 to .01. The maximum levy initially approved by voters was .35. According to Presiding Commissioner Scott Fricker, “For the last couple of years, the County has been generating excess sales tax revenues, so instead of spending it and growing the government, we’ve decided to give some of it back to Platte County property owners with this property tax reduction. We would reduce the levy to zero, but that would require voter approval in the future if the levy needed to be raised for any reason.” This action will apply to 2025 and 2026 property taxes.
County Administrator Submits Multiple Grant Applications to MARC
Over the past several weeks, Platte County Administrator Wes Minder submitted nine grant applications to the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) for various parks and road projects. MARC is the regional agency that allocates State and Federal grant funds to counties and municipalities, mostly for road projects, but also for other transportation-related projects. During his career Minder has been successful in getting many grants from MARC and was instrumental in working with Platte City to obtain federal planning funds to study parking, traffic, and sidewalk improvements in downtown Platte City. According to Minder, “Most of our applications that submitted to MARC are to leverage our Parks and Recreation sales taxes using federal funds specified for bike and pedestrian trail projects, but also includes one road project serving Kansas City, Northmoor, and Riverside. These grants are an important way for us to leverage County funds and stretch our sales taxes to get more projects done and keep federal funds in Platte County.” To voice your support for these projects please visit https://tinyurl.com/6fff95fy and scroll down to Platte County. Comments are due by October 4th.
Trail Ribbon Cutting to Be Held on Friday September 27th
The Platte County Parks Department will be holding a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday to celebrate the opening of a new bike/pedestrian trail connection adjacent to the Angeline Washington Elementary School, linking Brush Creek Trail to Southern Platte Pass Trail and beyond. This exciting project is a partnership between Platte County Parks, who funded the initiative; Park Hill School District, who managed the construction of the new Angeline Washington Elementary; and Parkville Parks, who will maintain the trail. The ceremony will be held Friday at 4:30pm at the intersection of Creekside Dr and Jessica Street in Parkville.