WICHITA, KS, July 22, 2008 -- Just 7 months after that one cent sales tax for the arena went away county commissioners are considering raising it again, this time to pay off debt and reduce the burden on those who pay property taxes.

"It's a good thing to talk about but I think we need to handle it very carefully, any sort of sales tax needs to come with some assurances to folks that we're definitely gonna have an impact on property taxes number one," said Commissioner Dave Unruh.  

The idea came from commissioner Kelly Parks who suggests a 1% sales tax hike for 18-months the money would be used to pay off county debt.

“You always have to wonder whether or not when they say they're gonna raise one tax and lower the others is it really going to be a wash or are they going to end up taking in more tax money over all anyway," said Dr. James Clark the associate dean for the Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University.

The one cent sales tax to build the new arena just expired in December.  During the two and a half years that it was in effect county raise over $206 million dollars.

According to the proposed 2009 budget,

Sedgwick

County currently carries $142 million dollars in debt and pays $18 million dollars a year toward it.

"You're better off financially if you don't have debt,” said Dr. Clark. “But you've got to sacrifice current spending if you’re going to do that, in the county's case that means we have to sacrifice current spending in order to get the debt paid off.  That might very well leave us better off in the long term though."

Still, the public would have to vote on that sacrifice is worth it.

“I think I would be if it would keep property taxed down, sure," said

Wichita resident Pam Byerley.

"I would much rather pay the property taxes than the sales tax, it's part of home ownership," countered Sarah Hart.