Olathe has adopted a budget for 2025 that keeps the municipal property tax rate flat but raises city utility rates. That new budget — valued at roughly $611 million — will keep the property tax, or mill levy, rate static at 23.356. It is also expected to add about $10 a month to the average utility cost in the city for residents who use all of Olathe’s utilities. Ultimately, the 2025 budget passed 4-2 Tuesday, with councilmembers Kevin Gilmore and Robyn Essex voting no. Councilmember Matt Schoonover was absent. City leaders, including Mayor John Bacon and Chief Mike Butaud, marked the opening of the reimagined Olathe Police Department headquarters with a ribbon-cutting in May 2024. Photo credit Kaylie McLaughlin.
How will this affect your tax bill? For 2025, Olathe will keep the city’s property tax rate of 23.356 mills. That’s still one of the lowest property tax rates among Johnson County cities. But Olathe property owners should expect to pay more next year on their annual property tax bill because home values — which contribute to the amount you pay — have continued their upward trend. Per the real estate statistics kept by Johnson County, Olathe’s average residential property value is $407,350, up about 7.3%. To calculate what your bill is, you multiply the value of your home by .115 (the residential assessment rate). Then, divide that number by 1,000. Multiply the result by the adopted mill levy rate of 23.356. For the average homeowner in Olathe, that means about $1,904 in property taxes owed to the city next year. Keep in mind that your total annual property tax bill also includes rates from other jurisdictions, like Johnson County and the school district you live in.
Source: Johnson County Post

Last year’s hotly-discussed Prairie Village petitions are headed before a panel of three appellate judges next month. After nearly a year in the Kansas Court of Appeals, three much-discussed petitions — circulated by PV United, also known as Stop Rezoning Prairie Village, a group of residents who opposed zoning changes — are scheduled for a hearing at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 16. City Administrator Wes Jordan told the Post via email on Wednesday that he anticipates both sides will be able to share “their perspectives of the case and be prepared to answer questions the Court may have.” Stop Rezoning PV’s spokesperson could not be reached for comment for this story. One petition called for limitations on rezoning in Prairie Village, and two separate petitions called for abandoning the city’s current form of government and adopting a new form. The “adoption” petition also wanted to slash the Prairie Village City Council in half from 12 councilmembers to six during a year when six council seats were up for election. This hearing comes nearly a year after Johnson County District Court Judge Rhonda Mason issued a ruling that only one of the three petitions — the “abandon” petition which called for less drastic government changes — was eligible for a future ballot. PV United filed a notice of appeal days after Mason issued her final ruling. The city filed its own appeal in response in early October 2023. Remember: These petitions are separate from a recent recall petition against Prairie Village Mayor Eric Mikkelson. That petition was circulated for signatures this past summer and failed to meet the necessary threshold to move forward. A breakdown of the petitions in question
Stop Rezoning PV circulated three separate petitions for signatures last summer, intending to get each petition on the November 2023 ballot. Thousands of residents signed each of the three petitions. Here’s what the petitions said, in summary: The “rezoning” petition called for limiting rezoning and, in particular, curtailing the use of accessory dwelling units — such as so-called “granny flats” — and other multifamily projects in single-family neighborhoods in Prairie Village. The “abandon” petition aimed to throw out the city’s current mayor-council form of government. The petition’s organizers have called the current form of government a “strong mayor” form and signaled an interest in paring back mayoral power. The “adoption” petition sought to replace the mayor-council form of government with a mayor-council-manager form of government. That petition included language that would have slashed the Prairie Village City Council in half from 12 councilmembers to six and would have effectively ended six councilmembers’ terms two years early.
Source: Johnson County Post