Division of the Budget
Landon State Office Building Phone: (785) 296-2436
900 SW Jackson Street, Room 504 larry.campbell@ks.gov
Topeka, KS 66612 Division of the Budget http://budget.kansas.gov
Adam Proffitt, Director Laura Kelly, Governor


February 8, 2021


The Honorable Adam Smith, Chairperson
House Committee on Taxation
Statehouse, Room 185A-N
Topeka, Kansas 66612
Dear Representative Smith:
SUBJECT: Fiscal Note for HB 2142 by House Committee on Taxation
In accordance with KSA 75-3715a, the following fiscal note concerning HB 2142 is
respectfully submitted to your committee.
HB 2142 would allow owners of commercial real property to apply to the county
commission for reimbursement of property taxes if their business was shut down or capacity was
limited by the county government. The county treasurer would be required to reimburse all
property owners that file a valid application from the county general fund. If the business was shut
down they would be reimbursed 1/12 of their total property taxes for each month they were shut
down. For capacity limitations, the reimbursement would be 1/12 of the total taxes multiplied by
the percentage of the capacity limitation and then multiplied by the number of months of the
limitation. The bill would apply to tax year 2020 and future tax years.
The Department of Revenue indicates HB 2142 would have no fiscal effect on property tax
revenues that would be collected for the two building funds, the Educational Building Fund and
the State Institutions Building Fund; the state’s uniform mill levy to fund expenditures for school
districts; municipal government; or any other property taxing authority except for county
government. The bill requires that the county government reimburse all property taxes from the
county general fund, including the taxes collected on behalf of other taxing authorities. The
Department of Revenue does not have data to determine which businesses have been shut down
or their capacity was limited by the county government, or the assessed valuation of this specific
property to make a precise estimate of the amount property taxes that the county would be required
to reimburse to the property owner. The bill would have no fiscal effect on the operations of the
Department of Revenue.
The Honorable Adam Smith, Chairperson
Page 2—HB 2142

The Kansas Association of Counties indicates that county government only retains 30.0
percent of all property taxes collected in the state. It is unknown to what extent businesses would
apply for this property tax reimbursement or if the amount of reimbursements would exceed county
general fund reserves. County governments may be required to hire temporary positions to review
reimbursement applications and to determine if the application is valid. However, the amounts of
these potential costs are unknown and would vary by county.
The League of Kansas Municipalities indicates the bill would have no fiscal effect. The
Department of Education indicates the bill would not have a fiscal effect on the state’s uniform
mill levy to fund expenditures for school districts. However, if it were determined that the mill
levy to fund education would be used to reimburse property owner, then the state would be required
to proportionally increase funding from the State General Fund.


Sincerely,

Adam Proffitt
Director of the Budget

cc: Wendi Stark, League of Municipalities
Jay Hall, Association of Counties
Craig Neuenswander, Education
Lynn Robinson, Department of Revenue