By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Pie charts, by their nature, are created to simplify complex numerical data into an easy-to-see picture. Still, how the pie chart is split can be subject for debate. That was the case during Monday's Great Bend City Council meeting as city and county officials entered into a spirited conversation about pie charts related to property taxes. The debate culminated with Great Bend Mayor asking Chief of Police Steve Haulmark to remove Barton County Commissioner Shawn Hutchinson from the meeting. Council Member Jolene Biggs presented the motion that would allow the city to ask the county's permission to include another chart in the annual tax statements.
"My main concern is that the public, within the city of Great Bend, that pays property tax, understands what the property tax dollars are for the city of Great Bend that are going to be levied," Biggs said. "Granted, other cities, the school district, The Rec, they might like that also. That may be very difficult for the county to do, but I wanted to bring that up because I feel like that's important to the taxpayers, and it's important for them to understand that we're working hard here as a city to try and keep that down."
Hutchinson said the county offered an invitation to all taxing entities for a meeting in 2023. One of the agenda items was input for a pie chart. Hutchinson said the city of Great Bend backed out with less than a week's notice. Biggs said she recently reached out to the county for more inclusive tax data, but no one could provide the information. Barton County Treasurer Jim Jordan said he attempted to return Bigg's call twice, but no one answered. Hutchinson did provide the all-inclusive figures to each council member during Monday's meeting.
Of note on the 2025 graph is a slice indicating cities and the townships in the county are raising taxes to $10.45 million. A proposed graph from the city would show the city of Great Bend decreasing its taxes from a year ago, while the other cities and townships in the county are increasing taxes. While technically accurate, Hutchinson said the city's proposed chart is still deceptive.
"The thing that I kind of find hypocritical about this is that you put Great Bend with a down arrow, then you lumped all the other cities together to create an up arrow, when the one we already sent out gives three cities a down arrow and one city an up arrow," said Hutchinson. "So didn't you do the same you're complaining about?"
The county chart included a text box featuring tax information for the county's four largest communities. Great Bend, Hoisington, and Ellinwood lowered taxes by a total of nearly $350. That decrease was easily offset by a $32,000 increase by the city of Claflin. The numbers are easy to skew when lumped together in a pie chart.
"Well, actually, I wasn't really worried about the other cities," Biggs responded to Hutchinson.
"We're not really worried about you either," Hutchinson replied.
Hutchinson said he took the comment back before Schmidt began to explain that the conversation was Biggs' topic on the agenda, and she had voiced her concern.
"You going to shut me down, too, man?" Hutchinson asked Schmidt.
Hutchinson told Schmidt that's two First Amendment violations in two weeks, referencing the Dec. 1 council meeting in which the Great Bend Tribune's Andrew Murphy was not allowed the opportunity to speak per council rules regarding an agenda item.
"Chief (Haulmark), I'm done with him," said Schmidt. "This is my meeting. You can remove him. I'm not going to sit here and let him..."
Haulmark approached Hutchinson at the podium before Hutchinson and returned to their seats. Jordan reiterated why the county includes a pie chart in the annual tax statements, though Council Member Kevin Soupiset said council members are not immune to complaints from the public, either.
"I welcome any one of you up here on the board, the council members, to come sit in my office at tax time for two days and listen to the comments we get about our taxes our too high, and the belittling my staff takes from people," Jordan said. "This is one reason I did the graph, because I'm tired of us taking the beating for taxes."
Several council members agreed the information provided by Hutchinson may be better than a pie chart, but the board did vote on the motion presented by Biggs, which would allow the city to approach the county about inclusion of its own pie chart. The motion passed 4-3, with Urban, Davis Jimenez, and Gary Parr voting against.
Listen to Monday's full discussion above.