Investment needed for both public safety and economic development
By Jackson Swearer
The City of Hutchinson is proposing to raise property taxes. Even with a 2-mill increase, expenses are going up faster than revenue.
According to earlier reporting, a new sales tax may also be on the horizon. It isn’t clear yet whether a potential sales tax increase will be through the City, the County, or both. Without a new sales tax, Hutch residents may be looking at as much as a 9- to 10-mill increase in the future.
Residents are worried the community is being taxed to death. I hear questions about being able to recruit new businesses to town if taxes are too high, as well as concerns about the impacts on our neighbors with low and fixed incomes.
Many also seem frustrated that it feels like Hutch has stagnated. Despite goals to grow the tax base over the past 20 years, the city has had a flat or slightly declining population. While the community has seen many improvements through the years, it feels to some residents like they are being left behind.
What will it take to grow and create a thriving community?
The City’s mill levy had been on a downward trend since 2020. The sales tax rate is also down after the Sports Arena sales tax ended last October.
Some cite inflation and rising valuations as a source of increased revenue despite the lower tax rates, but that same inflation also impacts the City’s expenses.
There is a vocal faction that wants to keep cutting taxes and further reduce expenses.
My view is that the City might have to spend more, but policymakers must be mindful that the community also cannot bear too high of taxes for too long.
If we are going to make investments, we need them to be strategic. Growing the tax base with new housing and good jobs will reduce the burden on everyone.
Readers can expect more in-depth reporting about the City budget, City and County sales tax initiatives, as well as the USD 308 school bond issue as those processes move forward.
In the following, I will share my take on one of the bigger topics of discussion related to the City budget: additions to the city staff, particularly in the Strategic Growth department.
Equipment and certain capital expenses may be the subject of future columns, but personnel has a significant impact on the general fund and therefore the mill levy.
This data came from the City’s presentation of the 2026 operating budget earlier this year. I’ve compared the City’s proposed 2026 operating budget to the 2024 actual expenses, unaudited.
The staff’s proposed budget has about 15 new positions, including some already added in 2025. They have also been successful in filling vacancies left open by previous administrations. Both should be captured by looking at the change between 2024 and 2026.
Keep in mind that these figures are expenses from the general fund by department, meaning they are both personnel and other short-term expenses. Let’s look at which departments saw the biggest changes:
The total expenses across all departments and non-departmental expenses are up almost $4.5 million, or about 10% over the two-year period. Even a 2-mill increase will not cover those new expenses.
The largest single increase was in Police at over $1.5 million. First responders, including Fire and Dispatch, account for more than $3.1 million, more than two-thirds of the increase. There were some added positions, but a lot of that is filling vacancies.
Public safety and taking care of infrastructure are two of the City’s main functions. Public Works and Parks & Facilities also account for over $1 million in increased expenses. These are good investments. We want to take good care of our streets, parks and public lands.
Planning and Zoning, now called Community Development, added a position last year and hopes to add another. These positions are needed to facilitate changes in zoning and building codes to help attract new developments.
I just finished six years on the Hutchinson Planning Commission. From that I know that we have a talented staff with experienced leadership who work hard. Despite that, there are multiple updates to the code that are on the back-burner because of a lack of staff time. The single senior planner they are requesting still isn’t enough.
The fastest growing department is Strategic Growth, with a small staff of three in 2024 growing to 6.5 positions in 2026. This includes the public information officer as well as staff for housing, human relations, business recruitment, neighborhoods and downtown development.
Investing in the people and resources necessary to attract more housing and more jobs to Hutchinson is vital. For too long, the City has underinvested in these areas, and that is one cause for our current predicament.
The new economic development positions are being requested in collaboration with the local Chamber of Commerce, a welcome sight for this columnist.
In addition to sharing in the cost of a position to support business recruitment, the City plans to once again fully support Downtown Development.
This undoes a move made under a previous City Council to eliminate the Downtown Development position. The Chamber stepped in to save the Downtown Hutch organization and the financial tools it brings to support development with low-cost loans.
Returning the position to the City will facilitate faster progress on the Downtown Master Plan, another great collaborative project. Plus, this represents a reallocation of funds, not a true increase in spending.
I am more skeptical about the idea to move staffing for the Healthy Neighborhoods Initiative away from its home at Hutch Rec. The recent Grace Arbor park situation points toward the occasional need for outside pressure on the City to meet neighborhood needs.
Like the proposed business recruitment position shared with the Chamber or the support for entrepreneurship through StartUp Hutch, locating the neighborhood position within Hutch Rec resulted in savings for the City.
But it did not necessarily create savings for taxpayers since Hutch Rec is also a taxing entity. City Council members expressed concerns about the program in a joint study session earlier this year. Maybe it’s worth the experiment to try something new.
All in all, what we have been trying hasn’t worked. It is time for a new approach, and it appears our new City Manager isn’t afraid to ask for the things he needs to get things done.
Increasing funding for personnel is prudent governance. Expecting our first responders to function without full staffing was not wise or sustainable.
Adding staff to other key departments that support economic growth is sensible. Being short-staffed in those areas makes it harder to build more housing and attract new businesses to this community.
It costs money to make money. With the right investments, I believe we can achieve strategic growth.
If the City Council is looking for cuts, they’ll need to look elsewhere.
Jackson Swearer is the Publisher of The Hutchinson Tribune. He can be reached jackson@hutchtribune.com.