HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Adjusting the underlying percentages in the quarter-cent sales tax for Hutchinson before it goes on the ballot again in November could have a significant budget impact on those to whom it is distributed.
According to city finance director Angela Richard, in 2019, that tax generated $2,192,864, in 2020 it generated $2,281,747 and in 2021 it generated $2,442,799.
That would mean that one one hundredth of that tax in each year would have been just $21,928.64 in 2019, $22,817.47 in 2020 and $24,427.99 in 2021, which means increasing the streets portion of that tax from 47 percent to 50 percent would net the streets fund somewhere between just under $66,000 to just under $75,000 if taxes are at the same level as previous years and cause that corresponding reduction in another area, potentially to either the Cosmosphere or Strataca, or the portion for property tax relief.
Adult tickets to the Hall of Space Museum at Cosmosphere are $14 with child tickets at $11 and senior tickets at $12, so it would take between 4,714 and 5,357 Reno County adult admissions to recoup the lost revenue from a three percent reduction in the Cosmosphere's quarter cent sales tax distribution, since the museum does not charge Reno County residents currently.
If Cosmosphere had charged Reno County attendees the current full price in 2019, they would have netted $68,255, in 2020, it would have been $53,820 and in 2021, it would have been $100,136.
In other words, losing three percent of the quarter cent sales tax, but charging Reno County residents would be close enough to a break even proposition not to necessarily require staff cuts, assuming attendance did not drop at all as a result of people deciding not to come because they couldn't afford admission.