The Kansas City Council is taking a big swing with this August’s ballot. Voters will be presented with five ballot questions, including four bond measures totaling $1.7 billion and a sales tax renewal that would fund economic development.
Those five questions include:
- A $750 million revenue bond measure to fund water system improvements.
- A $750 million revenue bond measure to fund sewer system improvements.
- A $100 million general obligation bond measure to fund affordable housing projects via the housing trust fund.
- A $100 million general obligation bond measure to fund maintenance and repairs of Bartle Hall, Municipal Auditorium and City Hall.
- A 1/8-cent sales tax to fund economic development projects in an area bounded by Ninth Street to the north, Gregory Boulevard to the south, Paseo Boulevard to the west and Indiana Avenue to the east.
In the past, the City Council has been squeamish about asking voters for too much at once. The concern is that if the city asks voters for too much money, they will feel overtaxed and turn the city down.
In January, the council deliberated whether to put the water bond measure on the April ballot next to the question seeking to renew the city’s earnings tax. They decided to play it safe and delayed the water bonds until later in the year.
“If you put a lot of taxes on one ballot, something’s not going to pass,” Councilmember Darrell Curls said during a Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee meeting in January. He represents the 5th District at large.
Since then, city leaders have mulled over their options and ultimately decided to put the questions on one ballot to save on the money it costs to put on an election. For example, the special election to recall then-Jackson County Executive Frank White Jr. in September 2025 cost the county $2 million.
City staff say that $200 million in bonds that the city is requesting for the housing trust fund and convention center and City Hall repairs are replacing another $200 million in debt that will have been completely paid off. As a result, there will be no tax increase associated with approving those two questions.
As far as the water bonds, KC Water staff said that the bonds are already baked into the department’s plan for future rates. If voters reject those two questions, they said, the department would need to turn to more expensive funding sources with higher interest rates, resulting in bigger rate increases.
The Central City Economic Development sales tax would be a 10-year renewal of an existing sales tax.
The City Council’s Finance, Governance and Public Safety committee heard presentations from city staff about all five proposed ballot measures and recommended that the full council vote to place them on the ballot at the May 21 meeting — which the City Council then approved.
Here’s what each of those ballot measures would do.
Water bonds
The two biggest bond questions would authorize $750 million each to improve the drinking water system and the sewer system.
KC Water is essentially asking voters for permission to borrow money to pay for repairs, operations and upgrades for key water infrastructure. A “bond” is a form of loan.
When it’s time to actually move forward on those projects, KC Water will need to ask the City Council to issue the bonds.
Voters previously authorized bonds for KC Water in 2014 and 2022, when similar measures were overwhelmingly approved by 79% of voters.
Since then, that money has helped pay for backup generators, odor control, upgrades to the Westside Wastewater Treatment Plant and millions of dollars in sewer and water main repairs across the city.
The sewer system bonds will help fund upgrades that were mandated under a 2010 consent decree by a federal judge to prevent sewage overflow into nearby creeks and rivers. Those upgrades totaling $2.3 billion must be completed by 2040.
And if those bonds fail at the ballot box, KC Water ratepayers could expect their rates to go up faster than they have over the past few years.
That’s because the cost of these bonds has already been baked into the current water rates. And revenue bonds have lower interest rates than the alternatives.
If voters reject the water questions, the water improvements will still need to get done. But instead of using the cheaper revenue bonds, KC Water will end up paying more in interest, which will increase utility bills for Kansas City residents.
Housing trust fund
Another bond question would ask voters to authorize Kansas City to issue $100 million in general obligation bonds to pay for affordable housing development across the city.
The city first deposited money into its housing trust fund in May 2021, using $12.5 million of temporary COVID relief money through the American Rescue Plan Act.
From there, Kansas City voters approved another $50 million in November 2022, with the support of canvassers from KC Tenants, the citywide tenant union.
Since then, the housing trust fund board has spent that money by giving incentives to developers constructing or renovating 3,500 affordable housing units — especially within the City Council’s 3rd District.
“The trust fund was established to address Kansas City’s growing affordable housing crisis,” Blaine Proctor, the city’s director of housing and community development, told the Finance, Governance and Public Safety committee on May 19. “There’s currently a 64,000-unit shortage in affordable housing in Kansas City, and that is really made up of very low income and extremely low income households. That doesn’t include workforce housing.”
When the ballot measure passed in 2022, the plan was for the housing trust fund to spend $15 million per year until the fund ran out of money in 2027.
And now, the City Council wants to re-up the money in that account with an even bigger investment.
If it’s approved, the additional $100 million would allow the housing trust fund board to give out $20 million per year to developers, which could lead to the construction of thousands more affordable housing units by 2032.
The new $100 million would replace existing debt that will have been paid off, so city staff say it will not result in any tax increase.
At the same time, several City Council members want to see more geographical diversity in projects that get approved.
Melissa Patterson Hazley, who represents the 3rd District at large, is concerned that concentrating a majority of affordable housing units in the 3rd District would stifle the economic development of neighborhoods that already struggle to attract higher-income residents.
Other council members agreed.
Lindsay French and Johnathan Duncan, who represent the 2nd District at large and 6th District respectively, say that affordable housing remains scarce in the Northland and in the Plaza, Brookside and Waldo areas.
“If you work in the 6th District,” Duncan said, “serving coffee or in some type of service position, it’s likely that you don’t or can’t live in the 6th District. You can’t live in the Plaza if you work in the Plaza, and that’s an issue.”
Convention Center bonds
The fourth bond issue that Kansas City Council will place on the Aug. 4 ballot would authorize $100 million in general obligation bonds for repairs at Bartle Hall, the Municipal Auditorium and at City Hall.
Out of that $100 million, $75 million will go toward the convention center.
“These are not cosmetic projects,” Kimiko Gilmore, the city’s executive director of convention and entertainment facilities, told the committee on May 19. “They are core infrastructure investments that directly impact our ability to operate safely, efficiently and competitively.”
Gilmore said the city is partnering with Populous for renovations of both Bartle Hall and Municipal Auditorium.
The majority of the money — $49 million — will go toward “architectural projects.” Another $23 million will pay for “mechanical projects,” such as a new heating and air conditioning system, and the last $3 million will pay for “electrical projects” like conference center lighting.
The other $25 million will go toward repairs at City Hall.
Assistant City Manager Tammy Queen said the city has identified $51 million in maintenance and repair needs at the nearly 100-year-old building that are currently unfunded.
She said that includes:
- Phase two of a heating and air conditioning project for floors one through 15.
- About $10 million of water piping infrastructure.
- Fire alarm and intercom replacement.
- Exterior window replacement.
- Waterproofing and sealing the envelope of the building.
“We have a lot more needs than this $25 million would support,” Queen told the committee.
Central City Economic Development sales tax
The only formal city tax that will appear on the August ballot is the Central City Economic Development, or CCED, sales tax.
Since it was authorized in 2017, Kansas City consumers have paid a 1/8-cent sales tax on every dollar to help fund economic development projects within the “Central City” area.
That area is bounded to the north by Ninth Street, to the south by Gregory Boulevard, to the west by Paseo Boulevard and to the east by Indiana Avenue. The tax generates upwards of $10 million in revenue every year, expected to total about $100 million by September 2026.
The money generated by the tax is put into a fund that’s overseen by the CCED board, which considers applications from developers for projects that may not be possible without a boost from City Hall.
A Documenter attended and took notes at a CCED board meeting at the end of April. You can read those meeting notes here.
Several years ago, the CCED board faced criticism from advocates like Gwendolyn Grant, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City. They said the board was moving too slowly to issue grants and spending too much money on consultants.
Despite that, the CCED sales tax has been instrumental in projects like KD Academy, a 24-hour early learning facility on Prospect Avenue, and One Nine Vine, a mixed-use development with 80 residential units and seven retail spaces. The developers of those projects say that they likely would not have been possible without support from the CCED sales tax.
The sales tax is set to expire in September 2027 unless voters choose to renew it in August.
This story was originally published by The Beacon, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.
