McPherson County commissioners to weigh $10 vehicle transaction fee, longer Galva haunted forest
Planning director recommends separating the haunted forest's alcohol-service request from its event approval
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Become a subscriberMcPherson County residents would pay a $10 fee on every motor vehicle transaction starting Jan. 1, 2027, under a resolution county commissioners are set to consider at 9:10 a.m. Monday, Sept. 14.
The resolution cites K.S.A. 8-145d(a)(2)(A), which allows counties to raise the motor vehicle transaction fee — the charge collected by the county treasurer's office on vehicle transactions — to no more than $10 on the written recommendation of the county treasurer, and says the increased fee is authorized until Jan. 1, 2030. County Treasurer Cassie Chick is set to present the resolution, which says the treasurer has provided a written recommendation for the $10 fee. That recommendation is not part of the published agenda packet. The resolution's recital says a fee raised beyond $5 may not exceed $5 after Jan. 1, 2030, while Section 2 of the same document says the fee on and after that date will be either $5 or $10, whichever is greater.
At 10 a.m., the board is set to take up a request from Cord Nestor to run a haunted forest at 1935 Highway 56 near Galva on Thursdays through Sundays from Sept. 24 through Nov. 1, a longer schedule than the county approved in 2025. A Sept. 4 letter to commissioners from Planning, Zoning and Environment Director Jon Kinsey says the request may also include alcohol service through the Whiskey Wagon, an item Kinsey recommends the board decide separately from the temporary event approval.
The commission meets at 9 a.m. in the fifth-floor meeting room of the McPherson County Building at 200 N. Maple in McPherson. According to the agenda, Public Works Director David Bohnenblust is scheduled at 10:30 a.m. to seek approval of a High Risk Rural Roads and cost-share guardrail grant proposal, an engineering services contract, and signing changes at Old 81 Highway and Arrowhead Road and at Old 81 Highway and 22nd Avenue.
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