The Wyandotte/Leavenworth Area Agency on Aging will host a Medicare Low-Income Subsidy Enrollment event next Tuesday.

The event will be held at 1300 N. 78th Street, Suite 100, in Kansas City, Kan., from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

To qualify for the program, annual income must be limited to to $16,245 for an individual or $21,855 for a married couple living together. Resources must also be limited to $12,510 to $25,010.

According to the agency, 1,448 eligible Wyandotte County residents are not enrolled in the program, which could provide nearly $4,000 in financial assistance on prescription drugs. The program would allow residents to pay no more than $2.40 for each generic drug or $6 for a brand name drug.

To make an appointment, call (913) 573-8531.

The Unified Government is exploring the possibility of implementing a sales tax this fall. A special election would be required, with residents choosing to support or reject the new tax.

Currently, the sales tax in Kansas City, Kan., is 7.550 percent, placing it in the middle of the pack among the three Wyandotte County cities and near the bottom among area cities. Bonner Springs' sales tax rate is 8.025 percent, with Edwardsville at a flat 7.300 percent.

KCK ranks behind cities such as Leawood (8.050 percent), Bonner, Lenexa (8.025 percent), Lawrence (7.850 percent), Kansas City, Mo., (7.725 percent), Olathe (7.650 percent), Overland Park (7.650 percent) and Independence (7.550 percent).

In a July 20th memorandum, UG Chief Financial Officer Lew Levin recommended that the sales tax increase would be "no more than a 1/4 rate increase."

"A 1/4 cent increase rate maintains our competitiveness," he wrote.

If that's the increase, KCK would only have a lower sales tax than Leawood, Bonner Springs, Lenexa and Lawrence, among area cities.

In recent years, Bonner Springs and cities in Johnson County have experienced good luck with elections in an effort to implement some sales tax increase.

Lawrence passed three new taxes last November, with each of them garnering at least 68.8 percent of support. Johnson County voters supported a 1/8 cent increase for the Johnson County Education Research Triangle Authority last November.

In 2009, voters in Topeka supported a new tax for street and infrastructure repairs, while voters in Independence said no to an increase.

From the Unified Government:

A Kansas City, Kan., was robbed for approximately 18 pills of Oxycontin Wednesday morning.

The pills, valued at $40, were stolen Wednesday morning. A window at the house was also broken and the police assigned the crime of criminal damage to the scene.

Due to the privacy aspects of the case, the address of the home or the victim will not be published.

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