KC man charged with passing forged $4,400 check

By ERIC COPELAND Managing Editor A Kansas City man has been charged through Clay County after he attempted to pass a forged $4,400 check at a local bank. Nickolas S. Miller, 46, attempted to pass the check at the Excelsior Springs branch of Lawson Bank last Thursday. The check had been stolen from a car dealership in Gladstone, according to Lt. Clint Reno of the Excelsior Springs Police Department, but it was on a Lawson Bank account. “That is why we believe he came to Excelsior Springs to attempt to cash it,” Reno explained. Miller was apprehended and now faces a felony forgery charge. He is incarcerated in Clay County on a $10,000 bond.

Nickolas Miller

City levy increases by 5.75¢

By ERIC COPELAND
Managing Editor

The Excelsior Springs City Council approved on a unanimous vote a levy of $1.1485 per $100 of assessed valuation for the coming fiscal year, up nearly six cents from last year.
According to Director of Administrative Services Steve Marriott, the increase was necessary because the total assessed value of property inside the city declined by 4.34 percent, while personal property values dropped 9.49 percent and real estate values decreased 3.04 percent, while railroad and utility assessed values actually increased by 2.83 percent.
With the drop in assessed valuation, Marriott explained, the levy increased to try to keep the city’s revenues flat, as allowed under the Hancock Amendment.
But the increase didn’t sit right with James Beason, the only member of the public to attend the public hearing before the new levy was approved.
“I know very little about Hancock,” he admitted, “but when values go down, why do taxes go up?”
He noted that there are already other tax hikes in store for the county and school district, but he felt that government should be bound by the same rules of living as everyone else.
“When government overspends, it seems to me that they just raise taxes,” Beason said. “If I have to get by with less, why does government not set the example?”
Marriott explained that the assessor determines values, and the Hancock Amendment — among other things — gives government entities the option of increasing levies to balance out decreases in valuation. The amendment also blocks government entities from enacting tax increases without a vote of the people.
He also pointed out that in the eight years he had worked for the city, the tax levy had been rolled down in four of those years.
Beason responded that while they may be true, he was only looking at the amount of tax he would be required to pay. He also noted that since gambling revenues such as those at the casino riverboats and in the state lottery began to come in, it seemed government had just found new ways to spend the money.
“And we still pay more and more taxes,” he said.
Marriott answered that in fact, each of the members of the city council and staff also pay those taxes.
The general fund levy is climbing by a few cents, from 59.27 cents per $100 assessed valuation to 62.29 cents. The levies for parks, recreation and hospital are all going up nearly a penny, from 16.61 cents per $100 assessed valuation each to 17.52 cents.
City officials anticipate revenues of $823,419 for the general fund and $224,959 each for parks, recreation and hospital.
In other business, the council voted 4-1 to approve Stifel, Nicholaus & Company, Inc., and D.A. Davidson & Co. to underwrite certificates of purchase for water and sewer system improvement and to refund the city’s Series 1988 waterworks revenue bonds.
The two companies were recommended as underwriters in a proposal before the city council in July, but the requests for qualifications were rebid because, according to Marriott, the city didn’t get the responses they had hoped for.
In fact, the Stifel, Nicholaus & Company and D.A. Davidson and Co. joint proposal was the only one before the council in July. When RFQs were resent, they went to all 22 of the underwriters in the “dealers and underwriters” section of the Municipal Marketplace (also called the Red Book).
As a result, proposals came in from two other companies, Stern Brothers and Oppenheimer.
Marriott said the three responses were reviewed by himself, City Manager David Haugland and attorney Deborah Polk.
The three determined that Stern Brothers had submitted an incomplete proposal. And while Oppenheimer’s proposal was complete, the Stifel/Davidson proposal showed that the two companies had much more experience dealing with the types and amounts of bonds the city would be using. In addition, the joint proposal included a fixed underwriter’s discount, while Oppenheimer’s was variable.
Marriott also said he sees value in the fact that the joint proposal offers the resources of two firms instead of just one.
Mayor Carolyn Schutte, whose employer, Edward Jones, did not submit a proposal, voted against the measure.
The council also had a budget work session following Monday night’s special meeting; watch in an upcoming issue for more information about that session. However, they also briefly discussed the recent council decision to forgive tens of thousands of dollars of debt incurred to the city by the airport, and hundreds of thousands incurred by the golf course.
Mayor Carolyn Schutte said she wanted to make sure the golf board knew that an anticipated shortfall for the coming fiscal year would not be forgiven. The airport budget was part of Monday’s work session.
Councilman Ken Fousek said he felt the golf course should still repay the debt if they turn a profit, but the rest of the council disagreed.
And Councilman Jim Nelson pointed out that while a recent letter writer in the Standard noted that the parks & recreation department repaid a past debt, that department has a tax base and revenues that are not available to the golf course.

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