Dear Friends,

Did you know that in the past 10 years, Johnson County property valuations for taxes have gone up 89%? In contrast, for the same period of time, incomes in Johnson County have only risen 54%!

I'm sure you yourself have felt this in your budget -- property taxes increasing nearly three times the rate of inflation. Not only does this steep increase make it difficult financially for homeowners on fixed incomes, but it also stymies the growth of small businesses that provide jobs for our community.

When these companies are allowed to produce more income and jobs, they create more revenue for the state, which in turn can provide more resources for helping the disabled, and it would also allow increased funding for education.

Art Hall, an economist at KU Center for Applied Economics, and Dave Trabert, president of the Flint Hills Policy Institute have done a superb job putting together a proposal to restructure property taxes in Kansas. I plan on introducing the proposed legislation soon in the Kansas Senate. It is becoming popular very quickly!

Dave has agreed to come and give a presentation about Proposition K to the Northwest Johnson County Republicans' (NWJCR) meeting Monday night, Feb. 2, 7:30 p.m. at the Shawnee Library, 13811 Johnson Drive. He is an excellent speaker and I'm confident you will enjoy hearing his proposal.

I'd love for you to come and hear this exciting new and more fair way of implementing property taxes. It does not prevent local units of government from increasing taxes, but it does make it more clear when they decide to increase their budgets.

Please let me know as soon as possible if you can come. If we get the big turnout I think we will, we'll need a bigger room!