An initial vote count appears to show Overland Park, Kan. voters have approved extending a 1/8 cent sales tax for 10 years, financing street repair and construction.
Unofficial returns on the mail-in ballot show some 33,000 ballots cast with 72 percent approving it. Nearly $70 million will have been collected when the current tax expires in 2014.
“We keep this money all segregated to make sure we spend the entire amount on specifically what we told them we would use it for," says Carl Gerlach, mayor of Overland Park.
City spokesman Seal Reilly said the tax is expected to bring in about $65 million over 10 years.
The tax has been in place since 1999. The extension allows the 1/8 cent tax run from next April to 2024.