By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

(Updated at 2:30 p.m. with Sprint comments.)

Call it the Sprint Shocker.

Led by Overland Park, Johnson County cities will have to refund millions of sales-tax dollars to the county's largest employer over the next year or so. Road projects will be delayed. Citizen services will be affected. Why?

Simply put, Sprint overpaid taxes from Kansans who bought the company's equipment from out of state between 2004-2007.

The company conducted audits and found that it deserved to get refunds from the state of Kansas as well as cities that charge sales taxes. The state agreed.

So here's the effect in Overland Park.

The city will have to refund $13.6 million in sales taxes -- most of it to Sprint -- over a period of time extending into 2009.

City Manager John Nachbar earlier this month gave elected officials a budget-reduction plan, based on the refunds as well as other financial problems afflicting the city.

Nachbar said Tuesday he didn't propose a mill levy increase to make up the millions of refunded dollars, calling it a "last resort."

Instead, he suggested delaying some projects. They included $4.4 million of thoroughfare improvements on 159th Street between Antioch and Metcalf, plus fire apparatus equipment purchases and a new police radio system.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Sprint public affairs manager John Taylor emphasized that his company had "paid every penny we owed" in taxes to Kansas and cities in the state.

He did say the company had made a "mistake" in how it had paid certain taxes in the state, which resulted in the ongoing refunds.

Taylor said Sprint conducted a number of audits across the country, pointing out that the company collected taxes from around 10,000 jurisdictions.

The Sprint refunds will most dramatically affect Overland Park.

The Overland Park City Council is scheduled to discuss Nachbar's plan next Monday.

At that time, Mayor Carl Gerlach and other city officials should press for the most up-to-date information on how the refunds occurred and how they could affect the services provided to residents in the future.