Sales Tax
Sales Tax is not a common source of revenue for a public university. In addition to the typical tuition and fees and state aid, Washburn University also receives significant support from the 0.65% retail sales tax paid by the Shawnee County taxpayers. However, this source of funds does not seem to get much consideration by the administration or by the Board of Regents when comparing tuition rates at Washburn University to other state schools.
$110 million Through FY05
Almost $110 million has been collected during the first six years of this tax collection. The funds have been used as follows:
| Operations | $89.8 million |
| Reserve (Savings) | 5.7 million |
| Debt Service | 4.7 million |
| Capital Projects | 9.8 million |
| Total Collections: | $110.0 million |
Revenue Windfall?
Although assessment of the county wide retail sales tax replaced local property taxes, total revenues provided to the University from taxpayers went up almost $5.3 million in the first year that the retail sales tax was collected. While retail sales tax collections tend to fluctuate with the economy, total revenues have never gotten close to falling to the FY99 income level.
The Question
Why isn't the administration using these taxpayer funds to provide more reasonable tuition rate increases for the students?