Ballots for the mail-in election on a proposed property tax increase to pay for a proposed community center in Shawnee are hitting mailboxes starting today.
Registered voters in Shawnee will decide if the city will issue up to $38 million in general obligation bonds — covered by a property tax increase — to pay for building and maintaining a community center at West 61st Street and Woodland Drive. If Shawnee voters approve the ballot measure, the city will finance the costs for the community center through the issuance of bonds for a 20-year period. That means the city would pay about $2.7 million annually to cover the $38 million principal cost for construction plus interest. With interest included, the total cost for the project would be about $54 million.
If voters approve the measure, Shawnee property owners would see an increase of 2.919 mills to the city’s property tax rate. That would bring the total mill levy up to 29.536.
As a point of comparison, the current mill levy in neighboring Lenexa, which has a slightly smaller population than Shawnee but a higher total assessed property value, is 29.909.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post – Neighborhood news and events for Prairie Village, Fairway, Mission Hills)