As reported last month , the Overland Park city staff received unanimous support for its revised “Enhanced Compliance Process for Rental Property” program (see attached summary report) from the Community Development Committee (CDC) which met on March 1^st .  The issue will be the subject of a public hearing before the CDC on Wednesday, April 5, 2000, at 7:30 p.m. All interested parties should make every effort to attend (see attached meeting notice).

In Johnson County, Kansas, property owners will be required to file a declaration of personal property, which has always been a legal requirement, but not enforced by the county until now. The implication of this requirement with regard to the county’s new methodology is that while an averaging of  personal property  value as a percentage to be deducted from real estate valuation may generally result in some tax savings to owners, the allowable reduction may not be enough relative to the actual value of the respective personal property. Chatam & Associates, a local property tax consultant, has offered its services to owners throughout the county to represent their respective interests in this regard. Interested parties should contact Jerry Chatam at (913) 438-4388. 

In Kansas, SB 54 is an attempt by the cable industry to enact legislation that will provide unrestricted access to any consumer wishing to subscribe to a licensed provider’s diverse cable services. Current proposed legislation would also place restrictions on revenue-sharing agreements with owners. The cable lobby  appears to have convinced a significant number of legislators that unrestricted consumer accesses to these services outweigh any claim of basic property rights. As is the case with FCC rulings, some significant litigation will need to occur in order to test the owner’s private property rights. As of  March 24^th, SB 54 in its current form has been technically eliminated from passage during the current legislative session. However, this proposal is liable to resurface at any time, and our respective elected officials need be continuously reminded of  our opposition.

In Missouri, SB 771 (sponsored by Sen. DePasco includes text from formerly introduced fire sprinkler bill SB 882, sponsored by Sen. Clay) would require all buildings of more than 75 feet in height in the state without automatic fire sprinklers to retro-fit with fire sprinklers over a phase-in period not to exceed twelve (12) years. While the measure has a great deal of public support, especially on the east side of the state, the bill is generally opposed by the state’s business and real estate interests, including a strong Kansas City condominium  associations advocacy. Senator Clay, who has little to no empathy with building owners, has made no pretense about the fact that the fire sprinkler retro-fit provision is a generous pay-back to labor interests who have supported him to a significant degree through he years.  SB 771 is on the current bill perfection calendar. Please write your respective representatives voicing your opposition.