A conversation with Johnson County District 3 Commissioner Charlotte O’Hara
Interview - 7 minute read
On Monday, September 26, Convention of States Olathe District Captain Sherry Peterson and I had the opportunity to listen to Johnson County District 3 Commissioner Charlotte O’Hara (R) speak on rising taxes and Critical Race Theory (CRT) in Johnson County.
O’Hara, who is running for Johnson County Commission, first spoke on CRT being taught in the classrooms and how government officials in the area did not wish to hear her viewpoints, stating they were against “diversity of thought.”
“They did a series of vignettes… on Critical Race Theory, and one of the things that they said is that the White racial frame is the foundation of systemic racism,” O’Hara said. “So, Sheriff Hayden and I, we would go to one of these presentations and then everything shut down again and went virtual. So, I texted one of the assistant county managers and I said, ‘Joe, I want to zoom in,’ and he texted me back saying, ‘Oh, it’s full, you can’t. There’s no room for you.’ No room for me on a zoom? Are you kidding me? They did not want me to attend.
“When I first got sworn in, I had to go through the Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) to get information…. One of the things I was trying to get was I wanted the communication between the school superintendents and the Department of Health and Environment, Dr. Areola, or any of the other staff. I knew that there had been collusion because the school districts, they were fully aware that they had home rule authority and could opt out of the county’s health order, but they wanted the county to put the health order in place so they would be shielded from the political fallout. Then Dave Trabert, [CEO of] the Kansas Policy Institute, he was requesting the same information. Finally, he got it, and when he got it, they shared it with me.”
O’Hara began relating details about a retreat in April where she said the intent of the meeting was to get her to shut up. She said the consultant was from Texas who said that it was important for the board to come together to show unity. Saying that when they pass a policy they would have to come together. O’Hara said she fired back, asking, “Isn’t it true that the Supreme Court issues a majority and a minority report?” O’Hara claimed the consultant confirmed this but said the county board “must come together.”
“If I disagree with a policy, I’m going to voice my opposition,” O’Hara said.
O’Hara said the best thing citizens can do is consistently go to the local board meetings and make their voices heard, whether that be school board meetings, city commission meetings, or county commission meetings.
“The biggest thing there, in my opinion, are the tax incentives,” O’Hara explained. “They are giving hundreds of millions of dollars away [for businesses] and the bigger you are, the more you get. Edgerton—those millions of square foot buildings—they’re paying 16 cents a square foot. A 200,000 square foot house would be $320 a year. So, I own two small industrial buildings on South Keeler here in Olathe. 40 years old, parking lot is not even paved, 10,000 square foot, 15,000 square foot, I pay over $2 a square foot, I pay over $50,000 a year in property taxes on those 40-year-old buildings. This is in spite of the fact that in 1986, we passed a constitutional amendment on the equalization of property taxes, because before then, you bought in—your value was what you bought it. And actually, they had not had a reappraisal for 20 years. In 1991 they had the first appraisal after the 1986 constitutional amendment. And it has been nothing but just putting it to the taxpayers ever since. After that was passed—and the assessed valuation on residential is 11.5 percent, industrial commercial is 25 percent, utilities is 30 percent—but it doesn’t matter because the city gives all these big industries tax breaks…. The Johnson County Board of County Commissioners gave the development that’s happening in New Century a 75 percent tax break and a cap on annual increases. The Panasonic, De Soto gave them, on top of the nearly billion dollars from the state of Kansas, De Soto gave them a $202,600,000 tax increment finance district, which means it will be diverting that many dollars in taxes for the next 20 years. And there’s another 200 million that’s coming down the pike, and it’ll be an industrial revenue bond, because they will not pay any sales tax for any construction materials, fixtures, or equipment. So, the tax increment finance districts—the county has veto power over those. We have never vetoed one. The school districts have veto power over those. They have never vetoed one. Now, a tax increment finance district, they have limited on the schools that they can only abate 50 percent, but every other tax is totally abated. There’s nothing for the fire district. There’s nothing for the city. All these other tax entities—there’s nothing for the county—so, you have to make up the difference. Every time there is an incentive, you have to think your taxes are going up. That’s just the long and the short of it.”
O’Hara made mention that she comes from the construction industry and has used an industrial revenue bond in 2004 allowing her a deeper understanding of how this works. She relayed her own story of how tenants will stay as long as tax incentives are there and will move around for tax incentives.
“My opponent, who I’m running against for chair, he keeps saying, ‘Well, I’ll decrease the mill levy by 15 percent. I have a degree in education, so I want to see his work, because I’ve tried to figure out where he got to 15 percent. I can’t figure it out. However, I did get some individuals in Overland Park, and I looked at their tax bills from 2018 to 2023—the notice that they just sent out—the first one that increased, the city of Overland Park increased from $769 a year to $1066 which was a 38.6 percent increase, and the other was a 45.2 percent increase. That’s just the city taxes. It’s just like it’s open season on us poor little peons. We’re just expected to shoulder the cost and [Chairman of the Johnson County Board of Commissioners Ed] Eilert goes, ‘Well, we must go through the pain to get the gain,’ and I’m going, ‘But we never win.’ Like, we gave Sprint all the tax incentives and then they left, they went out of business. The Panasonic—what do you think? In 20 years, technology will be totally different. Probably 5 years it will be totally different. It’s going to be obsolete.
“In the 90s, the mantra was ‘growth must pay for itself,’ but that’s totally gone out the window. If you go to the Kansas Commerce Department’s website, you will see a list of tax incentives… and in 2013 there was a post-legislative audit done, and it stated, ‘these tax incentives don’t work.’
O’Hara, who is up for Johnson County Commissioner Chair on November 8, 2022, finished speaking on what she can do as Chair.
“The Chair sets the agenda,” O’Hara explained. “I think we’ll have some very interesting agendas…. The Department of Health from 2019 to 2023, their budget increased 41.5 percent. Why do we still need that bloated budget post-pandemic? Why do we need seven epidemiologists? I don’t know. Why? That’s ridiculous, but it just stacks on and on and the big buzz word is ‘health equity.’…I say, ‘Oh, you mean “equality.”’ We need to say, ‘equality.’ Equal opportunities. My youngest daughter was ten when she came to my home and she is of Korean and African decent, and so I go, ‘How dare you tell my daughter she’s a victim and that she cannot stand up on her own…. How dare you strip her of her self-confidence and individuality. How dare you…. Come after me about CRT. Come on. Challenge me because this is ridiculous. It’s the most racist statement anyone could state. I went to the Health Forum two or three weeks ago—every statistic was based on race. Nothing else. No age. No income. No education. Nothing. Just race. White, Hispanic, and Black. That’s your choice. And the Health Department wants to control every aspect of your life.”