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Dreams of a regional light-rail plan may hinge on one choice:
November or not.
Mayor Mark Funkhouser of Kansas City is championing a Missouri tri-county light-rail tax and says its best chance is on the November ballot.
But in the past week, many political leaders in Jackson, Clay and Platte counties who need to make that happen have gone public to say November isn’t possible.
And that’s tightening the vise on the decision facing Kansas City.
The City Council promised voters a plan this year to replace the Clay Chastain proposal that the council repealed in 2007, and most of Funkhouser’s colleagues favor a starter line within city limits.
Any November ballot measure needs to go to the election boards in late August. Officials say that means they need to reach a consensus soon, because a tax increase — within the city or across three counties — is likely to be a very hard sell.
“We really need to figure out what we are doing and get our ducks in a row so we can get a winnable proposal on the November ballot,” City Councilwoman Jan Marcason said last week. “We need to really kick it in high gear.”
There are three options, but each has obstacles.
1. Regional system, November vote
Funkhouser proposes a system that would run within and beyond city limits, connecting the three Missouri counties. (The Kansas Legislature hasn’t supported the mayor’s ultimate goal of a bistate system.)
The benefit of a starter line isn’t worth the cost, the mayor says, so the system must be bigger.
“The bigger the system, the more likely it is to pass,” he said. November is the right time, he said, because the presidential election is likely to bring out lots of young, progressive voters and people with heightened concerns about gas prices and the environment.
Polling several months ago indicated that a 3/8-cent sales tax increase for a Kansas City starter line would garner only 42 percent support.
As for the chances of a regional plan succeeding in November, no one has yet polled that question, but the mayor maintains: “It’ll never have a better shot.”
Funkhouser and his main transit ally on the City Council, Russ Johnson, say the first step is to do some polling on regional light rail, which will be done this month.
The key elements of Funkhouser’s approach include:
•A half-cent sales tax increase in Jackson, Clay and Platte counties, which would raise about $70 million a year.
•A transportation governing body of about 10 to 12 elected officials, including mayors from throughout the three counties, to decide specifics, such as the route.
•Priority destinations — such as Lee’s Summit, Independence, downtown and Kansas City International Airport. The specific destinations would be identified in time to draft ballot language in August, but the exact route probably would not be available then.
2. Regional system, later
Many officials interviewed by The Kansas City Star said the mayor’s regional outline just isn’t specific enough.
And Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders, several legislators and the mayors of Lee’s Summit, Blue Springs and Independence said there is not enough time to develop a regional plan by this fall. He met with mayors in recent days.
“There is broad support for mass transit as we look at rising gas prices and the challenges that face this community,” Sanders said. “However, a plan needs to be laid out in detail to the public before it goes on the ballot.”
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