By John Sharp
A community forum on the proposed extension of KCMO’s quarter-cent public safety sales tax and a proposed bond issue for the Kansas City Public Schools will be hosted by the South Kansas City Alliance at 6 p.m. Monday, March 10, at the Red Bridge Branch of the Mid-Continent Public Library, 453 E. Red Bridge Rd., in the Red Bridge Shopping Center.
Public Safety Sales Tax
Supporters and opponents of the 20-year extension of the sales tax now scheduled to expire on June 30, 2026, will debate the issue and respond to audience questions at the forum.
KCMO Councilwoman Melissa Patterson Hazley will speak in favor of the extension. Additional speakers for and against the proposal had not been confirmed at press time.
Currently, the tax funds needed capital improvements for both the Kansas City Police Department and the emergency medical services provided by the Kansas City Fire Department.
If the tax passes by a simple majority, the city has committed to use funds from the tax to also construct a rehabilitation and detention center for city prisoners. The city now has no city jail and contracts with Johnson County, Mo., and Vernon County, Mo., to house a limited number of women prisoners in Warrensburg, Mo., and male prisoners in Nevada, Mo., depending on space availability.
These counties also have the contractual right to refuse to accept certain prisoners, that are usually violent offenders who are the very persons who really need to be incarcerated before they can inflict further physical harm to the victim or others.
This lack of jail space all too frequently forces Kansas City police officers to only write tickets even for violent offenders and not arrest them. This is of particular concern in domestic violence incidents which sometimes escalate with deadly consequences for the victims if the offenders can’t be promptly removed from the scene. There also have been allegations of mistreatment of city prisoners in the Vernon County facility, and it is difficult for family members to easily visit local prisoners in those facilities that are both far outside the metropolitan area.
Kansas City Public Schools Bond Issue
Rita Cortes, president of the Kansas City Public Schools Board of Education, will explain the school district’s proposed $474 million bond issue to repair its aging schools and other facilities and the facilities of 9 participating public charter schools.
It has been 58 years since the district last passed a bond issue in 1967.
The bond issue will raise real and personal property taxes in the district by an estimated 61 cents for every $100 of assessed valuation which is 19% of fair market value. That would be about $208.62 for a house with a fair market value of $180,000 which is the average fair market value of a house in the district according to the district. That’s about $17.39 a month or about 57 cents a day.
The bond issues requires a 4/7 vote to pass which is just a little less than 57.2%