Print edition: 
At least one Sedgwick County commissioner hopes to roll back property taxes using money from the Intrust Bank Arena sales tax.
The commission voted 3 to 2 to reimburse the county's general fund about $1.6 million for the administrative costs of building the arena. That includes staff time spent on the arena ranging from employees who oversaw the project to purchasing employees who bought goods and services and accounting workers who paid bills.
The county will transfer money from the 1 percent sales tax voters approved in 2004 for the downtown arena and improvements to the pavilions at the Kansas Coliseum.
Commissioner Gwen Welshimer wants to use the money to cut property taxes.
An audit estimated that the "indirect costs" — a phrase commissioner Kelly Parks took issue with and said could be construed as fraud — of the arena were $1.6 million through 2008. Sedgwick County chief financial officer Chris Chronis has estimated that the total cost will reach $2.6 million.
That would be enough money, Welshimer said, to cut property taxes by a half mill, saving owners of a $100,000 house $5.75 a year.
The debate centered mostly on one question: what voters who supported the arena expected the county to do with their money.
On one side, Chronis noted that the sales tax was to be used solely for the arena and making improvements to the pavilions.
On the other side, commissioners Welshimer, Parks and Karl Peterjohn said that voters were promised that no property taxes would be used on the downtown arena. They voted to transfer the money; board members Tim Norton and Dave Unruh voted against doing so.
"There is no black or white, right or wrong answer," Chronis said.
Later, he told The Eagle, "There are two things to consider: what the practical effect of the transfer would be on financial condition of the (reserve) and the general fund; and what promise the county made to voters. I would not say that the first is more important than the second."
But he pushed for the money to remain in the arena and pavilions' operating and maintenance reserve fund, which last month had just less than $14 million, because taking money out of the fund would drain it four years earlier than expected — in 2024. He said the general fund doesn't need the additional money.
He also said staff time is a regular cost of doing business.
Welshimer argued that using general fund money to pay administrative costs puts the county in danger of raising taxes.
She said the $2.6 million equates to more than the tax cut commissioners approved last year. Welshimer had fought for a bigger cut last year for this year's budget.
The county raised the mill levy in 2006 by 2.5 mills for a jail expansion and the National Center for Aviation Training.
Commissioners then cut taxes by one mill in 2008 when they halted the jail expansion, and they shaved off another half mill last year.
Welshimer expects to move more money from the reserve fund to the general fund after the audit on staff time spent on the arena is completed.
Parks said the "yea people told us that this arena will not cost the taxpayers a dime." Homeowners, he said, "are getting hammered by property taxes."
Two members of the county's arena sales tax oversight committee, Charles Peaster and Max Weddle, spoke in favor of transferring the money. The board as a whole was recently split on the issue.
Greg Sevier, who served as chairman of the group, noted in an e-mail to commissioners and The Eagle on Wednesday that none of the interest revenue earned on the sales tax was credited to the arena fund.
The interest, which Sevier said would have more than offset the costs of staff time, went into the general fund. That's required by state law, Chronis said.
"Charging for indirect expenses but not crediting for indirect revenue sounds a lot like 'having your cake and eating it too.' Not fair nor transparent," Sevier said.
A lead opponent of the arena before he became a commissioner, Peterjohn said he agreed with Chronis that the issue was not black and white, but "I was repeatedly told that there was no property tax money that would be used to pay for the arena."
Peterjohn also said it was his understanding that $9 million of sales tax money was supposed to be used on the pavilions. The county has spent $4.5 million on improvements there and $1.5 million on previously incurred design costs and has closed Britt Brown Arena.
Chronis said the county estimated improvements would cost $9 million; they cost less than expected, he said. About $3 million was reallocated to the arena project, he said.
Unruh said he was disappointed by Wednesday's vote.
The county did not hire any new staff because of the arena, he said, and "I do think that we made a very strong commitment that all the sales tax money would be used for the arena and pavilions."
