Courtesy The Manhattan Mercury
Someone apparently doesn’t like the proposed indoor aquatics center project.
Many Manhattan residents on Tuesday received text messages opposing a “new rec and fitness center” because of the tax increases that likely would come with it. The message reads, “Inflation. Rising gas prices. Now more taxes?!”
The messages seem to refer to a plan by city parks and rec officials, who have proposed, among other things, revamping City Park and constructing a new indoor aquatic center on the park’s northern edge near Fremont Street. The plan calls for razing the current outdoor pool and building a new pool on the north side, too. Officials have said the plan would cost around $40 million and likely would require a voter approved extension of an existing tax and approval of a new tax.
The mysterious messages purport to be from the “Taxpayer Protection Fund.” The texts came to different phones from different numbers. When called, the numbers gave busy signals.
A staff member at the Kansas Governmental Ethic Commission told the Mercury Wednesday that
the office already had received a few complaints about the texts.
Residents of other cities have received similar messages in recent months. In Liberty, Missouri, messages saying they’re from the same “fund” opposed a new $60 million activity center and other improvements, according to the Kansas City Star.
Text messages with similar wording went out to the people of Prairie Village in January, according to the Johnson County Post.
