TOPEKA (KSNT) – City leaders met on Tuesday morning to chat about ongoing road construction in Topeka, the city’s budget discussions, the possible implementation of a sales tax and more.
Topeka’s Mayor Spencer Duncan, City Manager Robert Perez and other local leaders gathered for the press conference at 10 a.m. on Sept. 22. Each addressed different issues with the City of Topeka.
Duncan talked extensively about the city’s recent budget approval process. He said city staff are already looking ahead to working on the 2028 budget.
“I want to thank every city employee at every level, all of them, for the work they put into this budget, for the ideas and information they provided, and the understanding at every level why we’ve had to make the decisions we’ve had to make,” Duncan said. “Budget decisions can be very unsettling when they start to create some sort of impact on our staff and so I’m very cognizant of that.”
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Duncan said that even though the mill levy will remain “steady” it doesn’t mean the property tax bills for locals will remain the same.
“When the assessed property values rise, the city can collect more property tax revenue, even at the same rate,” Duncan said. “But we went through the net revenue neutral process this year and I understand why residents are frustrated when their bills rise. I do get it. And you always deserve an explanation that we understand that and recognize that. But as I’ve said many times, I don’t control the valuation process and it’s going to take cooperation as we head into the legislative session between our city and the cities of Kansas and the State Legislature to sort of handle that part of the equation.”
Perez said city staff worked hard to keep the city budget flat year over year. He said the $417.8 million 2027 budget ended up being $900,000 higher than the budget from the year prior.
“Some of the priorities that we heard from the community early on in the budget process had to do with prioritizing things like infrastructure, public safety and economic development,” Perez said. “And although we did have to make some tough decisions, I do believe we prioritized a lot of those… a lot of the feedback that we heard back from the community.”
Perez touched on the half-cent sales tax proposal he put forward to the city’s Governing Body to address budget deficit issues in the years ahead. He said this sales tax would generate $20 million annually.
“The $20 million half-cent [sales tax] would essentially sustain our budget for the next five years plus,” Perez said
Duncan spoke about the fire services plan and the formation of a new community commission to provide locals with an opportunity to review the city’s proposed fire station and operational restructuring plan. Commission members will evaluate the impact the plan will have on the community while providing observations, suggestions and recommendations to the city’s Governing Body. The commission will consist of 10 members with each Topeka city councilmember and the mayor recommending one person to serve on the commission.
Topeka city councilmembers have until Oct. 5 to submit their recommended choices to serve on the commission. Members of the Fire services Plan Community Commission will have until March 31, 2027, to complete its work.
“Our goals with this plan are clear,” Duncan said. “To provide a strong fire protection across Topeka, improve our response times, modernize aging facilities and make sure our stations have space that respects the needs of every firefighter, including our female firefighters serving in the department. The proposed plan works towards those goals while seeking to preserve a presence in our older stations and the neighborhoods that those currently serve.”
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Duncan also talked about the significant number of road construction projects that are ongoing around the Capital City. He apologized for inconveniences that local residents and business owners are experiencing due to these projects, but also said these projects are necessary to keep the roads healthy and to address community concerns regarding roads in need of repairs.
“We have to do everything we reasonably can to keep people moving and to limit the impact on local businesses that these projects can create,” Duncan said. “At the same time, I will not apologize for working hard on our roads. Improving them is one of the clearest and constant priorities that we hear from Topekans, and we have the opportunity to make those improvements, we need to and we are going to take it. This is a difficult balance, if we have too many projects underway at once getting across town becomes frustrating, if we put off all these needed repairs our roads continue to deteriorate, and people complain about how we’re letting the roads deteriorate.”
Duncan emphasized the need for construction crews to take care of the various road improvement projects around the city prior to the start of the winter season. He said the end goal is to provide locals with roads that are fit to travel on for years to come.
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