BPU clients seek answers to questions about PILOT fees

KSHB 41 reporter Rachel Henderson covers areas of Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties. Share your story idea with Rachel.

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Board of Public Utilities customers want answers about why PILOT fees are still showing up on their bills nearly a month after missed the October 1st deadline remove the board.

William Rogers said he was not aware of complaints about the BPU not waiving PILOT fees until he went to make public comments on another issue at a Wyandotte County Board of Commissioners meeting.

Chris Morrison/KSHB 41

“Personally, I’m not the kind of citizen to complain,” Rogers said. “I have a complaint that the mayor does not work with the commission members. He doesn’t inform them, he doesn’t keep them up to date.”

Rogers watched KSHB 41 stories about the BPU PILOT fee issue, including a story in which I found BPU email warning Kansas City, Kansas, Mayor Tyrone Garner and Wyandotte County Administrator David Johnston that the Oct. 1 deadline was unrealistic.

“And then the mayor said he was shocked to hear about it through social media,” Rogers laughed. “No, mayor, you didn’t. You learned about it in this letter. Come on man, I’m smarter than that.”

Garner said in telephone interview On October 18, he tried to clear up the confusion over the fee.

The mayor, who declined a personal interview on this topic and will only speak to us by phone, expressed confidence that the PILOT fee will be waived.

“I rely on our administrator and the Unified Government staff to advise me on all matters,” Garner said.

Rogers did something on Monday. we couldn’t do ever since the news broke, he went to the ninth floor of City Hall to meet with the mayor.

Chris Morrison/KSHB 41

He took with him documents containing property tax details and BPU PILOT fees.

Chris Morrison/KSHB 41

Rogers said he wanted evidence of his claims from his own public records.

“I want to tell him it’s okay to make mistakes,” Rogers said. “It’s okay that you and the administrator were in a hurry. But right now you are creating division in this community and it needs to stop. How to fix this? That’s his job, right? He’s the mayor.”

It was almost one month after the October 1st deadline from Johnston.

“When they just said it was going to go away on Oct. 1, even I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s never going to go away like that,’” Rogers said. “The mayor and county administrator just handled it themselves.”

Commission meetings and public comment sessions took place between August and October.

But since no news about the fee emerged, customers had no platform to ask questions about the PILOT fee fiasco.

On October 17, a special meeting of the Unified Government was held, but there was no public discussion. There was also a meeting for Wyandotte County officials on Oct. 19, but questions were asked in advance and the Q&A at the end was time-limited.

“It’s not us versus them, but they’re starting to have success and that’s bad business for Wyandotte County,” Rogers said. “Personally, I think we’re better than that.”

I’ve received a lot of questions from viewers since we started covering the PILOT fee issues.

After my interview with Rogers, I got a call from City Hall to answer some viewer questions that I sent to the mayor on Monday morning.

The questions I asked Mayor Garner during our 15-minute phone call are below:

Who sets the agenda?

The agenda is sent from the office to the mayor and commission members. It is set by a combination of staff and the mayor, with occasional input from a commission. The document is then given to the clerk and she collects everything before sending it to the mayor and commissioners. If necessary, lawyers review the agenda.

Do committee members have a meeting agenda in time to ask informed questions?

The mayor said he would be happy if he and the commissioners had a week to two weeks to review the meeting agenda.

“This has been a challenge since I became mayor,” Garner said. “Sometimes it’s a day, sometimes items come out on a day, so it depends on the situation.”

The agenda is usually set on the Friday or Monday before the commission meeting, and by Tuesday this information is made available to the public.

This is the average time for a meeting agenda to be published.

If residents pay a PILOT fee or increase the amount in the rate structure, how is this different from paying the same fee but with a different name?

“The biggest thing for me when I ran for mayor, and one of the things I stood for, is that this is a work in progress,” Garner said. “Residents tell me they have a problem with not having a real utility bill. We’re not just talking about the BPU, but also the fees for trash, stormwater, sewer, and all the other fees that are included in the BPU bill. Many residents have problems with this. PILOT is another one of these deals. When someone gets shut off, they lose all of these extra services that leaders here in the city have decided for decades to include on their utility bills.”

Do you feel like you have answered all the residents’ questions? Will there be other opportunities for residents to provide comments (regarding the PILOT)?

“That’s my goal,” Garner said. “One of the things I can say is I’m proud that as mayor, I listen to people who say, ‘Mayor, we’d like to be able to talk to you and the commission and other leaders about our concerns. I came up with one thing: Mayor Tyrone Tuesdays. I have audition tours. And most importantly, I have open mics, regular open mics where people can come and talk about issues.”

The mayor’s office told me that they will email answers to the remaining questions from viewers and we will publish them when we receive them.

Next joint meeting The Joint Government and Public Utilities Board meeting will take place at 5pm on Wednesday 30 October.