Albert Kowitz

Debra Kollock

This project used research-based outcomes to guide the development of an educational program for citizen-government relations. We found that citizens generally do not connect their payment of property taxes with services provided by county government, nor do they understand how their property taxes are distributed. Many property owners believe they are getting a poor value for their tax dollars, but have little or no rational basis for assessing the value and effectiveness of county services. Consequently, citizens are increasingly reluctant to pay taxes. Our intent was to provide local citizens with an information base on which informed decisions could be made regarding services and costs of county government.

The work of Glaser (Wichita State) helped to frame this project and define the issues. Four publications were created for local citizens regarding the operation of their government. The first was designed to provide an informational base on the distribution of property tax dollars for the provision of services (law and justice, community engagement and general government). The second publication addressed the issue of "good value" for their tax dollar by explaining county roads tax dollar expenditure. The third and fourth publications were designed to give taxpayers information to decide whether or not to invest in improved local law and justice services by raising taxes. Our next step is to test the impact of this effort on citizen knowledge and attitudes regarding county government and evaluate if it increased citizen engagement with local government.