Wyandotte County voters elected Christal Watson as the next mayor and CEO of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. She beat her opponent, Rose Mulvany Henry, by 1,415 votes.
This is a return to Unified Government headquarters for Watson. She was deputy chief of staff under former Mayor David Alvey. She is currently executive director of the nonprofit Kansas City, Kansas, School Foundation.
During the campaign, she said the Unified Government should have insisted on community benefit agreements for the many development projects popping up, especially around the Legends.
"We've missed some opportunities to have some of that funding go back into our communities, and I think that's why we have (had problems), particularly when it comes to infrastructure," she told KCUR’s Up To Date.
The mayor and CEO of the Unified Government has proved to be one of the more daunting municipal government jobs in the metro. The last three have only served one term.
Despite big developments in the county — including the new Margaritaville Hotel and the Atlas9 Theater — the Unified Government has big budget problems.
After a year of going budget neutral, a deeply divided UG commission in September voted to raise property taxes.
On an 8-3 vote, the commission approved a tax hike of about $96 a year on a $200,000 house in Kansas City, Kansas. The hike would be about $57 for the same home in the county. Property appraisals increased in Wyandotte County this year, also increasing property taxes.
Five seats on the Unified Government’s board of commissioners were also up for election this week. Andrew Kump is the commissioner at-large for District 2, Jermaine Howard will represent District 1, Carlos Pacheco III won in District 5, Chuck Stites ran unopposed for District 7 and Andrew Davis won District 8.
Even with a property tax increase, the Unified Government budget is in peril. Currently, 44% of the general fund goes toward interest on more than $858 million in bonds. At a budget meeting in July, Commissioner Tom Burroughs said the Unified Government has a “systematic fiscal problem.”
The commission did vote to use 10% of any additional future revenue from projects like the Margaritaville Hotel to pay down that debt.
Voters also reelected Daniel Soptic as Wyandotte County Sheriff.
The FIFA World Cup presents another challenge for the incoming mayor and commission. Right now, the Unified Government budget does not include any World Cup expenditures.
The Unified Government’s World Cup Readiness Task Force report said there is a “high likelihood” that a national team would select the Compass Minerals National Performance Center as a team’s base camp for the entire tournament. The report also says teams are expected to use Children’s Mercy Park for practice a day ahead of each match at Arrowhead Stadium.
Some residents are not at all excited about international soccer in Wyandotte County, and said so at a Unified Government budget hearing last week.
“You patronize us and tell us we need to be a good host to people that we give no Fs about. I mean, we’re concerned about taking care of our families,” Jessie Villarreal from Kansas City, Kansas, told commissioners.
The Unified Government also wants to upgrade several firehouses in the city after a report said ten are in “deplorable” condition and six are in “poor” condition. The report also said that many fire companies fall short of meeting response time standards, and more firefighters are needed.
