Allow me to draw attention to an important issue for all Johnson County residents.
We need to stop an Overland Park land grab.
Their proposed 15-square-mile involuntary annexation is bad because:
Overland Park residents will pay $1 million-plus in subsidies in first year alone.
Johnson County residents will spend millions bringing 199th Street up to commercial standards.
New high-density neighborhoods to the south will erode existing northern neighborhoods.
Established businesses will face pressure to move south as older commercial areas continue to struggle.
Other Johnson County cities will see property and sales tax revenues shrink.
Johnson County property taxes will not decrease, even though the plan would make the county’s service area 7 percent smaller.
Shawnee Mission schools will lose students as families move to new southern neighborhoods.
Don’t let the Johnson County Board of Commissioners rubber stamp Overland Park’s annexation without representation.
Before Nov. 30, e-mail commissioners at BOCC-Commissioners.jocogov.org and tell them: Vote no on Overland Park expansion.
Norman Pishny
Bucyrus, Kan.
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