Lynn Luck, who has been a commissioner for 18 years, is running for reelection as an independent after switching her party affiliation from Republican last year. In an interview with The Oskaloosa Independent, Luck gave her pitch for the county and talked about her change in affiliation.
“I just decided, you know, I just I would just prefer to be independent,” Luck said. “Even though in reality in this county, there’s no partisan politics. I mean, you know, everyone gets along fine.”
“It just felt it was something I needed to do,” Luck said.
As for her plans for another term on the county commission, Luck said she would want more government support for the volunteer fire departments.
“Right now, things have changed in Jefferson County,” Luck said. “It used to be all rural. Everybody used to be here during the day or at night because they worked here. They farmed. So, there was a plentiful amount of people that volunteered. As time has gone on it’s become more and more difficult to find people to volunteer. And the ones that do, you know, they work hard. And they’re pulled out all times of night.”
Another commissioner on the county board, David Christy, has also been talking about the issue, Luck said.
“So if we would get Kansas to do something, maybe a tax abatement or something like that for volunteer firemen to encourage them to participate,” Luck said.
Back taxes is also a project that Luck would like to continue working on. “We’ve had tax sales, delinquent tax sales, 600 plus parcels. There’s no other county in the state that has any more than probably 50 and it’s very expensive to do it.”
Luck said it costs thousands of dollars to go through with the government duty, but the county is close to catching up.
It takes multiple years of delinquency for a property to go on a tax sale, Luck said. Though tax sales are a matter of fiscal responsibility. “We’ve had people out there, they haven’t paid their taxes for 11 years. And then others don’t understand, ‘Well, why would I pay my taxes of Joe over here? He’s been living never paying any taxes.’ So catching up with the delinquent tax, I think it’s important”
More economic development is also a goal for another term, but it needs to match the county’s nature, Luck said.
“For example, if we had Walmart say we’re going to put a warehouse at the end of Wellman Road, and we’re gonna raise the tax revenue by $150,000,” Luck said. “The outcry from the people around that would be deafening. So, then I wouldn’t vote for it. I mean, people want something as long as they don’t see it.”
“So it’s really a balance between, yes, we do want economic development, but we want it to fit our county.”
The county has invested in economic development, Luck said. Luck used the industrial park in Meriden as an example. “There were a couple of businesses that came in and they’re still over there doing very well,” Luck said.
However, Jefferson County can’t compete for the big businesses the same way big counties such as Shawnee or Douglas can, Luck said.
“I think we need to encourage our local businesses as best we can,” Luck said, ”And if something comes in, and you know, we introduce it to the communities and they want it, it’s great.”
Luck also brought up the Washington Estates Subdivision and how Northwind residents rallied against it. “I thought it was, again, well planned but I can’t vote for that. Not when I represent the people.”
As for how the county will grow in population, Luck said the new comprehensive plan will be to expand out from the cities. Though anyone moving into the county would need a home built to live in.
Luck then took aim at any plan to overhaul the county’s roads. “It’s a million dollars to pay for one mile of road. That’s four mills. So, if every commissioner district wanted to do one mile, which really would make very little difference, that’s 12 mills we’d have to raise. So, where do you come up with that?”
It would be impossible to increase services without increasing taxes, Luck said. Hiring a county manager would also be a wasted expense. “Which would be like hiring someone for a couple $100,000, putting a middleman in there that would do nothing. We don’t need them”
The reason for the county budget mainly relying on property taxes is because the state took away other forms of revenue from counties, such as the boat tax and user fees, Luck said.
County employee pay also can’t just be cut to save money because then vital employees will leave to work in neighboring counties for better pay, Luck said.
“There’s a lot in emergency 911,” Luck said. “We are not quite where Douglas or any of these other counties are. So, for example, we need to good people in there. That’s an extremely important position. We’ve brought it up over the last couple of years, but we need to be competitive in those. If not, people will leave. And then you’re sitting there with no one answering the phones. If you want to cut services, obviously you wouldn’t call 911. You wouldn’t cut the ambulance you wouldn’t cut the sheriff. So, we don’t have any perky little fun departments that we could cut.”