Memorandum

City of Lawrence

City Manager’s Office

Date:	01/29/2010
To:	David Corliss, City Manager
From:	Casey Toomay, Budget Manager Michelle Stevens, Intern
CC:	Cynthia Boecker, Assistant City Manager Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager Jonathan Douglass, Assistant to the City Manager
RE:	Assessed Valuation, Mill Levy, and Local Sales Tax Comparison Information for the 2010 Budget Year

Per your request, information related to the assessed valuation, mill levy, and local sales tax for the ten largest cities in Kansas is provided below.  It is important to remember that the municipal services provided by each municipality vary.  For example, only Lawrence and Manhattan levy property taxes to fund libraries. 

Assessed Valuation and Mill Levy

The table below shows how the City of Lawrence compares to the nine other largest cities in the state in terms of assessed valuation for the 2009 and 2010 budget years.

City	Population (2005 est.)	2008 total estimated assessed value	2008 assessed valuation per capita	Population (2008 est.)	2009 total estimated assessed value	2009 assessed valuation per capita
Wichita	347,996	$3,145,832,409	$9,040	366,046	$3,151,655,096	$8,610
Overland Park	168,000	2,873,398,579	17,104	171,231	2,750,228,988	$16,062
Olathe	116,910	1,371,206,924	11,729	119,993	1,332,794,724	$11,107
Unified Government	144,210	1,143,038,682	7,926	142,562	1,063,675,528	$7,461
Topeka	122,008	1,039,723,989	8,522	123,446	1,013,490,502	$8,210
Lenexa	43,765	939,519,742	21,467	46,822	956,643,001	$20,431
Lawrence	88,664	862,037,586	9,723	90,520	853,676,870	$9,431
Shawnee	56,915	738,920,861	12,983	60,954	716,913,883	$11,762
Manhattan	49,462	429,976,877	8,693	52,284	465,543,127	$8,904
Salina	45,956	399,982,148	8,704	46,483	397,470,626	$8,551
average	118,389	$     1,294,363,780	$     11,589	122,034	$     1,270,209,235	$      11,053
median	102,787	$        989,621,866	$      9,381	105,257	$        985,066,752	$        9,167

Source:  County Clerk’s offices

The table highlights the following:

• Based on 2008 population estimates, Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the state.  At 90,520, Lawrence is 14% below the median population. 

• Lawrence ranks seventh in terms of total assessed valuation for the 2010 budget year just as it did for the 2009 and 2008 budget years.  The city with the greatest total assessed value is Wichita, the city with the largest population. 

• When comparing assessed valuation per capita, Lawrence ranks fifth.  We are almost three percent (3%) above the median but more than fourteen percent (14%) below the average assessed valuation per capita.  The four cities with higher assessed valuations per capita are all in Johnson County. 

The table below shows the City mill levies for the ten largest cities for the 2009 and 2010 budget years.  The city mill levy in the 2009 and 2010 budget for Lawrence ranks fifth among the top ten largest cities.  At 26.693 mills, it is 0.059 mills above the median but 1.290 mills below the average.

City	2008 Total City Mill Levy	2009 Total City Mill Levy
Unified Government	40.258	40.258
Manhattan	34.268	37.289
Topeka	32.682	32.592
Wichita	32.056	32.142
Lawrence	26.647	26.693
Lenexa	26.568	26.574
Salina	25.886	25.855
Olathe	24.908	24.837
Shawnee	24.693	24.699
Overland Park	8.852	8.89
average	27.682	27.983
median	26.608	26.634

Local Sales and Use Tax

Municipalities across the state levy sales tax for a number of purposes.  For most communities, sales tax is levied for general purposes.  Some municipalities also levy sale taxes for special purposes.  The City of Lawrence has both.  In 1971, the City passed a general purpose 0.50% sales tax.  In 1990, voters passed a 0.50% city sales tax intended for public safety.  Last November, voters approved a 0.30% sales tax for infrastructure and a 0.25% sales tax for transit.  A number of cities, including Lawrence, have also established special taxing districts.   

The chart below shows a breakdown of the city and county sale tax rates by purpose as well as the total combined sales tax rates in the ten largest cities in the state.  Included in the combined sales tax rate is the 5.3% sales tax levied by the State.  Cities do not receive any of this revenue.  Cities do receive a portion of the sales taxes levied by the County in which they are located based on a population ratio.

The combined sales tax rate in the City of Lawrence is among the highest of the largest cities in the state.  Of the cities in this comparison, only the Cities of Lenexa and Topeka have higher combined sales tax rates.  Special districts in the Unified Government, Manhattan, Olathe, and Overland Park have higher combined sales tax rates than most of Lawrence.  However, the Cities do not receive the proceeds from these special sales taxes.  

City	City Sales Taxes	County Sales Taxes	Combined Sales Tax Rate
Unified Government	1.25% speedway debt	1.00% speedway debt	7.550%
Kansas City Rack Track	1.25% speedway debt	same as above	7.550%
Kansas City Transportation District	0.6% improvements at location	same as above	8.150%
Kansas City Transportation District	0.6% improvements at location	same as above	8.150%
Kansas City Transportation District	0.10% improvements at location	same as above	7.650%
Lawrence	0.50% public safety	0.50% property tax relief	7.850%
	0.50% general purpose	0.50% parks and rec, health, jail
	0.30% streets
	0.20% transit
	0.05% transit
Oread TDD	1.00% improvements at location	same as above	8.850%
Lawrence Bauer Farms TDD	1.00% improvements at location	same as above	8.850%
Lenexa	1.00% general purpose	0.50% general purpose	8.025%
	0.125% storm water	0.500% public safety
	0.375% roads/parks/civic facility	0.125% research triangle
		0.100% storm water
Manhattan (Pottawotomie Co.)	1.00% general purpose	0.50% general purpose	7.550%
	0.25% quality of life	0.50% road and bridge projects
Manhattan (Riley Co.)	same as above	same as above	7.550%
Manhattan Transportation Districts	0.50% improvements at location	same as above	8.050%
Manhattan Transportation Districts	0.50% improvements at location	same as above	8.050%
Manhattan Transportation Districts	0.50% improvements at location	same as above	8.050%
Olathe	1.00% general purpose	0.50% general purpose	7.650%
	0.125% park excise tax	0.25% public safety
		0.25% school tax
		0.10% storm water
		0.125% research triangle
Olathe Gateway TDD No. 1a	1.00 improvements at location	same as above	8.650%
Olathe Gateway TDD No. 1b	1.00 improvements at location	same as above	8.650%
Olathe Transportation District	1.00% improvements at location	same as above	8.650%
Olathe Transportation District	1.00% improvements at location	same as above	8.650%
Overland Park	1.00% general purpose	0.50% general purpose	7.650%
	0.125% streets	0.25% public safety
		0.25% public safety capital and operations
		0.10% storm water
		0.125% research triangle
Overland Park Transport. Dist	1.00% improvements at location	same as above	8.650%
Overland Park Transport. Dist	.5% improvements at location	same as above	8.150%
Salina	0.5% general purpose	1.00% general purpose	7.200%
	0.4% capital improvements, tax stabilization
	stabilization and economic development
Shawnee	1.00% general purposes	0.50% general purpose	7.775%
	0.125% public safety	0.25% public safety
	0.125% parks and pipes	0.25% law enforcement
		0.125% research triangle
		0.10% storm water
Topeka	1.00% general purpose	0.65% Washburn	7.950%
	0.50% streets, sidewalks, curbs	0.25% economic development
	and gutters, and streetlights	0.25% streets and bridges
Wichita	none	0.50% property tax relief	6.30%
		0.50% road and bridge projects

The table below compares the ten largest cities in Kansas in terms of their total city and county sales and use tax distributions for 2008 and 2009, as well as the total city and county sales and use tax budgeted for 2010.  It should be noted that the 2008 and 2009 numbers include all sales tax proceeds distributed to the cities, including those from any special taxing districts within the various cities.  The cities do not retain these proceeds, but instead must use them to reimburse those responsible for improvements made within the special district. 

City	2008 Actual Sales Tax Revenues*	08 Sales Tax Revenues Per Capita	2009 Estimated Sales Tax Revenues**	2009 Estimated Sales Tax Per Capita	2010 Budgeted Sales Tax Revenues	2010 Budgeted Sales Tax Per Capita
Overland Park	$    66,214,760	$             394	$     60,954,264	$          363	$     69,661,458	$          407
Wichita	$    51,253,194	$             147	$     49,442,734	$          142	$     52,287,460	$          143
Unified Government	$    41,304,303	$             286	$     42,385,227	$          294	$     36,276,000	$          254
Olathe	$    39,757,069	$             340	$     37,296,127	$          319	$     41,005,102	$          342
Topeka	$    36,634,476	$             300	$     35,502,072	$          291	$     50,245,200	$          407
Lawrence	$  23,028,955	$            260	$   26,713,535	$         301	$   30,827,113	$         341
Lenexa	$    23,245,389	$             531	$     25,529,556	$          583	$     24,685,880	$          527
Shawnee	$    19,557,924	$             344	$     18,099,997	$          318	$     18,696,000	$          307
Manhattan	$    15,332,624	$             310	$     15,513,209	$          314	16,703,440	$          319
Salina	$    14,070,647	$             306	$     15,126,674	$          329	$     15,976,336	$          344
average	$    33,039,934	$             279	$     32,656,340	$          276	$     35,636,399	$          292
median	$    29,939,933	$             308	$     31,107,804	$          316	$     33,551,557	$          341
*source: KS Dpt. of Revenue Office of Policy and Research
** includes city sales and use taxes and the city's share of county sales and use taxes

This table highlights the following:

• The City of Lawrence ranked sixth in total sales tax revenues received in 2009.  This is $4.3 million, or 14%, below the median.  In 2008, Lawrence received $6.9 million, or 23%, below the median.    

• When comparing sales tax revenues received per capita, Lawrence ranked seventh in 2009.  In 2008, only the City of Wichita received less sales tax per capita.  Sales tax received per capita in 2009 was less than 5% below the median, compared to more than 15% below the median in 2008. 

• The City of Lawrence budgeted $30,827,113 in sales tax for 2010.  Four cities budgeted less sales tax for 2010.  Overland Park budgeted the most sales tax of any of the cities in the comparison, $36 Million, or 108% of the median.  Salina budgeted the least sales tax in 2010, budgeting 52% below the median.   

• On a per capita basis, Lawrence ranks fifth among the ten largest cities for the amount of sales tax budgeted in 2010.  At $341 of sales tax budgeted per capita, Lawrence is the median in this comparison.  The City of Lenexa budgeted $527 per capita for 2010, the most of any city in this comparison. 

Conclusion

While the services provided by municipalities vary, it is possible to compare the City of Lawrence to the nine other largest cities in the state in a number of areas.  Our assessed valuation per capita is higher than the median.  The city mill levy for 2010 is 1.29 mills below the average.  Our sales tax rate is among the highest in the top ten largest cities in the state, although most area communities have sales taxes in the upper 7% to lower 8% range.