Save Taxpayers Vote No

08/21/2026

h/t Racette
"I noticed something odd about the property tax exemption for Ethanol Products (see June 20 Facebook post). After persisting, come to find out, this was an input error. Taxes of $110,000 were missed. Should have been $1,674,920 in assessed property value, not $719,300. This is why we need oversight on tax incentive programs like IRBs. Thank you Sedgwick County employees for making the correction and acknowledging mistakes were made. Hope you get help for the 112 IRB exemptions needing clean up. City council, quit approving these deals until problems are fixed!

Current staff said it will take 2 to 3 years to review all of these IRB exceptions.

I only looked at a small sample of IRBs - Industrial Revenue Bonds. These businesses are given property tax exemptions for 5 - 10 years. This one caught my eye because they had been given $25,000,000 in IRBs for everything; original building at 37th Street N, new building at 39th and Webb, expansion, sales tax on furniture and equipment to PUT into the building. Parking lot paving, etc. Tax exemptions for this business could have easily stopped somewhere between 2004 and 2026 but kept going. Now come to find out, a mistake was made and they got even more tax exemptions than they should have. Now they have 45 days to pay this $110,000 tax bill from last year.

And residential homeowners end up paying a higher tax bill to make up for what commercial/business properties got for free!"

MAYBE RESIDENTIAL TAXPAYERS SHOULD WAIT 2-3 YEARS TO PAY THEIR PROPERTY TAXES WHILE IRB EXCEPTIONS ARE REVIEWED AND BACK COMMERCIAL TAXES ARE COLLECTED! When will our local governments show some concern and urgency? Oh wait, maybe I know...they won't as long as they think they can eventually pass and collect a sales tax.

08/12/2026

THIS is what happens when you "give" away city assets to private entities WITHOUT operational reviews to guarantee that those entities are performing as promised. AND WHY did the City Manager bury this in the council meeting's consent agenda?
(gift article)

"A proposed change at the Wichita Boathouse has exposed a major flaw in one of the city’s 99-YEAR, $1-A-YEAR leases in the WaterWalk district.

And Wichita City Council members appeared blindsided Tuesday by what terminating the agreement likely means for the city.

At issue is a contract entered in 2009 that is likely to let Koch’s foundation terminate the agreement 82 years early as the building is due for major repairs. It’s a move that’s likely to saddle the city with costs that were supposed to be paid by the tenant.

In exchange for nearly a century of almost-free rent, the contract required the tenant to operate and maintain the Boathouse. That included any needed repairs to the foundation, exterior, mechanical systems and the roof.

There’s NO PENALTY FEE for ending the lease early, city officials said.

Wu also questioned why the decision was BURIED IN THE CITY'S CONSENT AGENDA, which would have allowed it to pass without discussion as one of nine seemingly routine items approved in bulk. Wu asked for a discussion on the decision and a separate vote."

The foundation previously agreed to rent the building at $1 a year for 99 years.

08/03/2026

ht Racette
MOST SERIOUS CITY MISREPRESENTATION: A taxpayer asked the city to allow an independent and unfettered audit of all departments. The City’s response was completely misleading, “We have an annual independent audit that is published publicly”.

Here’s what the city didn’t say - the Independent Auditors (CPA Firm Eide Bailly) do not do a deep dive. They don’t even issue an opinion on the City’s internal controls. That is why you will not see them talking about loans that are ‘off the books’, like the Ken Mar $2,000,000 loan, or the fact the city had no internal auditor for 3 years which was a direct violation of the city’s own Administrative Regulations. For 3 years, no internal auditor reviewed contracts of $50,000 and more made by former Manager Layton and the Economic Development staff. 🙁

Examples of malfeasance include:
⦁ the switching of the bid for the water plant by former mayor Longwell;
⦁ the labeling of debt for Jim Korroch’s Fairfield Inn as ‘stormwater utilities’;
⦁ Ice Rink Contract written by developers Rodney and Brandon Steven with time limits on collecting $1,000,000 in unpaid debt;
⦁ Waterwalk development deal saddling taxpayers with 99 years of leased property at $1 per year;
⦁ unpaid water bills for Stryker Complex including past due balance of $23,000 by Wichita Sports Forum;
⦁ incentives continuing to be dolled out to developers who owed the City millions of dollars in unpaid loans;
⦁ off the book transactions.
Who knows what has been missed?

08/01/2026

Taxpayer funded incentives have been promised to EPC to pay for the as yet unbuilt parking garage ($9.6 M) and to give TIF money to them ($10 M) for the hotel/apartment buildings.

08/01/2026

(gift article)
"The Wichita City Council on Tuesday will consider $11.25 million in new tax breaks for $150 million in upgrades at Wesley Medical Center.

The incentives would provide 100% sales exemption on $150 million in industrial revenue bonds issued by the city. The city’s share of the sales tax exemption is approximately $843,750 (which is the city’s share of a 1% countywide sales tax).

The rest of the $11.25 million is sales tax that would have gone to Sedgwick County and the state of Kansas.

City Hall’s new exemptions would be in addition to $23.2 million in sales tax abatements the City Council has approved for Wesley since 2018. Sedgwick County records show the Hillside hospital property has received property tax breaks on portions of its property since at least 2017, the earliest date available online. Its IRB property tax exemption in 2025 was worth $511,357.

The upcoming incentive has NO NEW JOBS REQUIREMENT."

QUESTIONS: What kind of profits does HCA Healthcare make? How much do they pay shareholders in dividends? If taxpayers have to pay millions for HCA to invest in upgrades, what will be the payback to taxpayers since there are no job requirements? Which upgrades would HCA not make if they did not receive new tax breaks; haven't they already started some of the upgrades?

“This sales tax exemption provides an environment that will encourage ongoing investment and benefit Wesley’s patients and the communities we serve.”

07/31/2026

h/t Racette
"Yes we, the taxpayers of Wichita, are on the hook for the unpaid $2,000,000 loan made for the developers to buy land and build the development for Ken Mar at 13th and Oliver. City council members allowed the collateral to be sold by Dave Wells and Dave Burk. They also allowed the letter of credit held by the bank to be released with no consequences. At the same time, numerous incentives were still approved by past and current city council members to this same Dave Wells and Dave Burk. Unbelievable."

MISREPRESENTATION DAY #2: City response to budget questions was this, “TIFs are paid for by existing property owners within the designated TIF district.”. This one is a flat out lie. The $2,000,000 debt on the Ken Mar development was NEVER POSTED ON THE CITY’s BOOKS. This is particularly egregious because I asked about the narrative shown below. I was told it was a small account receivable. I don’t consider $2,000,000 a ‘small’ anything. I challenge any accountant to tell me how a $2 M loan could be kept off the books legally. Taxpayers are now paying for the past due loan. City council members (there is still one on the council) let this one go unpaid for years. Now it is a lawsuit between the city and Dave Burk/Wells.

07/22/2026

PAID PARKING DOWNTOWN -- A BAD INVESTMENT COSTING TAXPAYERS...

Documents show that it cost more than $540,000 to install the system. Plus, between January 1, 2025 and now, the city has paid nearly $1.8 million in management fees for the system.

The city has made more than $640,000 from paid parking this year. About 8,000 tickets have been issued, leading to over $165,000 raised through the municipal court.

A BAD INVESTMENT THAT IS COSTING TAXPAYERS ($2.34 million spent less $640,000 made equals $1.7 MILLION LOSS TO TAXPAYERS)!!

AND MANAGEMENT FEES BEING PAID TO OUTSIDERS far exceeding revenue to city!

TAXPAYERS CONTINUE TO HAVING TO FOOT THE TAB FOR BAD CITY MANAGEMENT!

12 News contacted members of City Council and other city staff to discuss paid parking; they either declined or did not respond.

Now we have numbers from the city on how often the system is being utilized and how much money it’s generating.

07/22/2026

"The tax breaks include a 95% property tax abatement over five years, valued at $156,840 a year, and a 100% sales tax abatement on construction materials, valued at $349,292, including approximately $27,230 that would have gone to the city under the countywide sales tax.

The economic development incentives are part of the city’s decision to award CW3 LLC, a Delaware limited liability company represented by local developer Jeff Lange, $8.5 million in Industrial Revenue Bonds to build an industrial building with hopes of leasing the space to at least 50% within 5 years.

The new IRB-funded industrial building will be directly east of Fairbank Equipment at 989 W. Steeple Bay Parkway, near Seneca and MacArthur.

The incentives have NO JOBS REQUIREMENTS, and NONE WERE PROMISED. But it does have additional incentives if the developer leases space at the new building.

If the developer leases at least 50% of the new space within 5 years of completing the project, CW3 would receive an additional 50% property-tax abatement for another 5 years, subject to City Council approval."

(gift article)

The Wichita area gave more than $27 million in property tax breaks to businesses in 2025.

07/19/2026

(GIFT ARTICLE)
"A lack of state agency oversight allowed Sedgwick County to fail to seek legally required state approval for up to 30 years.

IRBs often come with full or partial sales- and property-tax breaks for 10 years.

In the Wichita area, local governments have offered up more than $209 million in property tax breaks to businesses through the program since 2010, data provided by Sedgwick County shows. That doesn’t include tax breaks for 2026.

Most of that money would have gone to school districts and local governments.

The researchers were unable to report how much sales tax was abated, as the state’s tax system is not set up to track it. The auditors estimated that the inability to track forgone sales tax revenue for the economic development incentive program likely understates the cost of the IRB program to state and local governments by HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.

The audit also revealed that the COST-BENEFIT ANALYSES prepared for projects were often WILDLY INACCURATE."

Researchers for a state audit found local governments across Kansas issued approximately $18.3 billion in industrial revenue bonds over 15 years starting in 2010.

07/14/2026

Here is your opportunity to talk about property taxes going up. You have 5 minutes to speak, and ask the City Council members to explain an increasing budget. Meetings are 9 a.m. except for August 25 which is the only 6 p.m. meeting.

Here are the dates:
Tuesday, July 14 - City Council Meeting: 2027 Budget & 2027-2036 Capital Improvement Program (CIP)

Tuesday, August 4 - City Council Meeting: 2027 Budget & 2027-2036 Capital Improvement Program (CIP)

Tuesday, August 18 - City Council Meeting: 2027 Proposed Budget & 2027-2036 Capital Improvement Program (CIP)

Tuesday, August 25 - City Council Meeting (Evening at 6 p.m.): FINAL PUBLIC HEARING and adoption of the 2027 Proposed Budget and 2027-2036 Proposed Capital Improvement Program.