At an open house in west Wyandotte County Tuesday night, residents and business owners voiced concerns about proposed changes to their monthly water and electric bills.
Currently, everyone pays $4.50 a month for stormwater management — meaning the sprawling Legends outlet mall pays the same as the owner of a one-bedroom home.
Officials at the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, want to change that, making the monthly payment proportionate to the size of the land.
But resident Greg Lucke, who lives on about an acre near Little Turkey Creek, would see his monthly cost go up by 400 percent.
“I’m not sure an increase is out of line at all, but I’m not sure (they) got the math right,” he said. “If there’s any drainage that comes off our property, it drains into a stream, which drains into the Kaw River. We don’t have any issues.”
The Unified Government says the new plan is intended to bring in more money from properties with more flooding, which tends to happen near non-residential properties because developed land does not absorb water as easily as undeveloped land.
Kim Thrasher has a house on the northern edge of the county and 25 acres that she says are undeveloped. She would owe nearly $1,000 a year under the new plan.
