EDITOR:
On the Nov. 5 election ballot, there will be two questions with vague wording that will be forever taxes in Platte County.
If passed, the Metropolitan Community College-Kansas City will annex the Platte County R-3 School District and raise our taxes accordingly. The second question concerns local charitable organizations asking to receive tax-payer funding for what they call “children services.”
The question proposed by this junior college intends to offer reduced tuition rates by raising our property and real estate taxes. A state statute gives them sole authority to do this if the voters approve. These taxes are raised by adding an additional tax levy of $0.1780 assessed value per $100. For example, if your home is appraised at $250,000, you will pay an additional $85 per year.
I assume the tax will benefit a small number of students going to this local college. But for most taxpayers, like seniors or those who have selected other colleges for their children, there is no benefit for Platte County property holders to subsidize this junior college.
Finally, you might remember in April 2021 that Platte County taxpayers defeated this same ballot question. I guess this is a second bite at the apple.
The second question intends to increase the sales tax rate in Platte County by a quarter cent. This question is using child well-being and child safety as ways to elicit public support for a new forever tax. Of course, if you oppose this, you will be demonized. But I can only imagine several of the ways this funding could be applied that would violate many of our conservative principles.
Why can’t our local non-profits and county organizations like: Hillcrest Transition Housing, Synergy Services, Platte County Health Department, county public schools, Parkville Women’s Clinic, Beacon Mental Health, etc., use contributions and current taxes to accomplish these goals? Most already do.
If child well-being is a concern for anyone, contribute to them voluntarily. Why must this be mandated for seniors, people with no children, and people with grown children in these hard economic times?
I strongly recommend a NO vote on both questions. We do not need higher taxes in this time of economic inflation driven by progressive spending policies, strangling regulations, and failed governance.
--Mike Stark
Platte City 
