Salina Journal
The Salina City Commission's self-imposed lame duck expects a lot of shooting in his final year in office.
When he accepted the rotating mayor's seat on April 14, Commissioner John Vanier proclaimed his fourth and final year in office "a year of living dangerously, in the fact that Salina has got to make some decisions, and we need to decide what we want to become."
He didn't mention the words "mill" or "levy," "sales" or "tax," but he made it clear that the man who proposed an unheard of 1.5-mill increase in the city mill levy last year hadn't fired his final salvo.
After meeting recently with consultants who are putting together a new comprehensive plan for the city, Vanier said he's more convinced than ever that tax increases are inevitable if Salina wants to be as progressive as it should be.
"The consultants have really brought up some incredibly interesting ideas and some really different ways of thinking about areas of town," Vanier, 49, said from behind the desk of his Salina office during an interview.
"A lot of the ideas have been in the back of my mind for a while now, so now I think it's really time we start lobbing a few of these grenades out to the public and say, 'Let's make some choices. Do we want to continue down the road we continue to go down, which is incredibly slow growth, if there's any at all, and not be a little more progressive?' I'm one that would like to see things move a little faster.
"I have my ideas, and I don't know how they're going to be received," he said, smiling after being reminded of what he said when he took over as mayor: "It could be a year of living dangerously."
Property tax increase
In August, the city commission voted to raise the mill levy -- which determines property tax rates -- by a half-mill. It was a historic event, in that the city hadn't raised its mill levy in more than 25 years.
At a prior meeting, Vanier had proposed a 1.5 mill increase that drew support from commissioners Aaron Peck and Abner Perney. But Vanier was absent when the vote came, and then-mayor Alan Jilka -- who, like Vanier, will exit the commission next spring -- persuaded the rest of the commission to go along with his proposal to increase it a half-mill to 24.5 mills.
Another bold proposal could be in the offing when budget time rolls around this summer, Vanier said.
"I truly believe our mill levy is too low for the services that citizens want in Salina," said Vanier, who is involved in ranch management as vice president of Western Star Ag Resources. "I think it needs to come up.
"Past administrations have been very proud of the fact that they hadn't raised the mill levy in 20 years. C'mon, the price of asphalt to pave the streets has gone up 30 percent in a year. We can't keep going the same way; something's gotta give."
Streets and bike paths
Asked what projects he would like to see done, Vanier first mentioned the "complete streets" concept that the comprehensive plan consultants had mentioned, which means an emphasis on sidewalks and bike paths being incorporated into the street system.
"I think every street, any redoing of any street in this town, we need to look at that and add bike lanes," he said. "We've got a tremendous asset in this old river channel that people would kill for in other communities. To develop that into hiking and some sort of recreational use, it would be a great way to connect downtown back to Kenwood and Oakdale parks.
"The entrances in our community, you travel a little bit and people ask you where you're from, and you say, 'Salina, Kansas,' and they say, 'Well, I bought gas there.' They don't even know there's a town here.
"How can you attract those people to come into town? How do we set ourselves apart from Hays, from McPherson, from Abilene, from Junction City? What can we do to make people say, 'Oh, yeah, Salina, Kansas. We need to stop by there.'
"I just think the recreational part is hugely important. In Salina, we've got some great assets that are here; we just aren't using them to their fullest."
Salina's low tax rate
Peck, who has three years left on his first four-year term, said he generally agrees with Vanier's analysis regarding the need to look at putting more money into the city.
"I was OK with what we ended up doing last year, but across the board, we still have a relatively modest mill levy, and I don't think we've necessarily hit that ceiling yet," Peck said.
"I think we have a little bit of room to work with and still be reasonable for our community. I would agree (that raising it) is something that's going to have to be done -- a little bit larger increment than what we did last year, for sure."
Larson, who has three years left on a four-year term and is in line to be mayor next year, said she also agrees with Vanier -- at least, philosophically.
"He had a very good comment (in his mayoral address) when he said, 'If you want to stay status quo and stay above the waterline and keep your head floating, we might as well stay where we are and not do a thing,' " Larson said.
"But if we're willing to step up and raise the bar, I mean, the citizens of Salina are really going to have to decide where the money is going to come from.
"When you look at the overall picture of other cities that compare to Salina, we are closer to the bottom than the top when it comes to taxes. I know there will be a lot of people that, right away, will think this is too much for them to undertake. If there is some way of working with our citizens and making that a gradual uphill climb so we can all afford it, I am for that."
Asked specifically about the mill levy, Larson said: "That's a tough question. I was happy with the 0.5 (increase). If it has to go higher than another 0.5 next year, to me, anything higher than that is a little drastic."
No Never-Never Land
Perney, who has a year left on a two-year term and hasn't decided whether he'll run again next year, said he's not ready to back a significant tax increase.
"I'm not 100 percent convinced it's necessary, yet," he said. "I might at least consider it, especially if -- as we've done with sales taxes -- we do it for a specific capital improvement and you can say where the tax dollars went, rather than it being in Never-Never Land somewhere."
What happens beyond next year will be in the hands of Peck, Larson, Perney (if he's re-elected) and future commissioners, because Vanier says he won't seek a second term.
"I believe in term limits," he said in explaining his decision. "I guess, Number One, I want to do other things, and Number Two, I truly believe that if you go into it and you do the best you can, you can encourage other people (to run) by telling them it's not as bad as it's made out to be and it's really kind of fun."
In his remaining time, Vanier said, he's particularly interested in promoting recreational and accessibility issues.
"If we truly want to do these kinds of things, we've got to make the decision to do it," he said, "and it's going to cost money and are you willing to pay for that? If you're not, just stop the talk."
n Reporter Darrin Stineman can be reached at 822¬-1416 or by e-mail at dstineman@salina.com.
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