Kansas City voters on Aug. 4 overwhelmingly approved five citywide ballot questions — four bond measures totaling $1.7 billion and the renewal of a sales tax that funds economic development in the city’s urban core.
City leaders, including Mayor Quinton Lucas, pushed for voters to pass all five questions while arguing that none would create a new tax or raise an existing tax rate.
The two $100 million general obligation bond questions tied to municipal buildings and the Housing Trust Fund were timed to replace city debt that is being paid off. The two $750 million measures for water and sewer improvements are both revenue bonds, repaid through utility rates rather than property taxes. The city sought to renew an existing Central City Economic Development sales tax.
More than 90,000 voters in Kansas City cast ballots. Turnout was about 26.25 % of registered voters in the portion of Kansas City in Jackson County, according to unofficial results as of 10 p.m. on primary day.
Results are unofficial until certified. Because Kansas City spans four counties, citywide totals combine returns from the Kansas City Election Board, which serves the Jackson County portion of the city, along with Clay, Platte and Cass counties.
Question 1: Affordable housing, $100 million bond
Yes: 75.6% (68,581) · No: 24.4% (22,155) — PASSED
Question 1 asked voters to let the city borrow $100 million in general obligation bonds to replenish its Housing Trust Fund, which helps finance plans to build and rehabilitate housing for very low- to moderate-income households.
Voters first put $50 million into the fund in 2022, approving it with 71% of the vote. According to the city’s housing dashboard, the Housing Trust Fund has invested $60 million and is projected to create or preserve more than 3,200 affordable housing units before the vote.
As a general obligation bond, the question needed a four-sevenths majority — about 57.1% — to pass.
With approval, the city can issue the bonds in roughly $20 million batches across five rounds of funding, awarded to developers through the trust fund’s competitive application process. Because the new debt replaces old debt the city has paid off, city officials say the bonds will not raise the property tax rate.
The result gives the fund its largest single infusion since it was established in 2018.
Question 2: Convention and municipal building improvements, $100 million bond
Yes: 69.3% (62,311) · No: 30.7% (27,664) — PASSED
Question 2 asked voters to approve $100 million in general obligation bonds for repairs to aging civic buildings. About $75 million would go to the convention complex — Bartle Hall, Municipal Auditorium and the Music Hall — with the remaining $25 million covering deferred maintenance at City Hall, including water piping, windows, fire alarm systems and waterproofing.
City officials described the work as structural rather than cosmetic. Like Question 1, it needed a four-sevenths majority and was structured to replace retiring debt without raising the property tax rate.
With voter approval, the city can move ahead with major architectural repairs, replacement of aging heating and cooling equipment, electrical upgrades and lighting improvements at the convention complex, along with the City Hall work.
Question 3: Central City Economic Development sales tax renewal
Yes: 69.2% (62,341) · No: 30.8% (27,711) — PASSED
Question 3 asked voters to renew the Central City Economic Development sales tax, a one-eighth-cent tax that funds economic development projects in an area bounded roughly by Ninth Street to the north and Gregory Boulevard to the south, The Paseo on the west and Indiana Avenue on the east.
Voters first approved the tax in 2017, and the current authorization expires Sept. 30, 2027.
Since 2017 it has awarded more than $88 million across 58 projects, according to the city.
Because voters were being asked to continue an existing tax at the same rate, a “yes” vote does not change what shoppers in Kansas City pay.
With the win at the ballot box, the tax continues for another 10 years, picking up when the current authorization expires in 2027 and preserving a dedicated stream of roughly $10 million to $13 million a year for projects in the urban core. Recent awards include $4 million for The Parker, a mixed-use development in the 18th and Vine Jazz District.
Question 4: Waterworks, $750 million revenue bond
Yes: 80.9% (72,968) · No: 19.1% (17,178) — PASSED
Question 4 asked voters to authorize $750 million in revenue bonds to rehabilitate, expand and improve Kansas City’s waterworks system. Revenue bonds are repaid from water rates rather than property taxes, and KC Water staff said the borrowing was already built into the department’s plans for future rates.
The authorization lets KC Water borrow at lower interest rates than it otherwise could, financing replacement of aging pipes and treatment infrastructure. Rate increases the department had already scheduled are expected to cover repayment.
Question 5: Sanitary sewers, $750 million revenue bond
Yes: 81.6% (73,785) · No: 18.4% (16,602) — PASSED
Similar to Question 4, Question 5 asked voters to authorize $750 million in revenue bonds for the sanitary sewer system, also repaid through utility rates. Together the two questions accounted for $1.5 billion of the $1.7 billion the city put on the ballot. While the city has asked voters to authorize both bonds saying that the work is necessary, work on the sewers is required by a federal court order.
With passage, the city can finance sewer rehabilitation and replacement at lower borrowing costs, with repayment coming from sewer charges already anticipated in customers’ bills.
This story was originally published by The Beacon, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.
