Tuesday deadline to apply for KC streetcar mail-in vote

Downtown residents wishing to vote in this fall’s streetcar mail-in tax election must submit an application to the Jackson County court administrator’s office by 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Before close of business Friday, 545 people had submitted applications. That’s out of more than 3,600 active registered voters living within the streetcar district boundaries, which include River Market, the Downtown Loop and Crown Center.

The actual ballots will be mailed Oct. 30 to qualified voters and will be due back no later than Dec. 11. The ballots will seek approval for property and sales tax increases within the district to help pay the local cost of the streetcar system.

The ballot proposes a 1-cent sales tax increase within the district.

It also proposes a special assessment of 70 cents per $100 of assessed valuation for residential properties, and a special assessment of 48 cents per $100 of assessed valuation for commercial properties.

The tax is based on assessed value, not market value. The owner of a downtown condo with a market value of $100,000 would pay a projected annual tax of $133. The annual tax on a commercial property is projected to be about $1,500 per $1 million of fair market value.

The Downtown Neighborhood Association has set up a Web-based calculator with which property owners can calculate their potential tax. It is available at www.dnakcmo.org.

The application form for a mail-in ballot is available at the Jackson County offices, 415 E. 12th St., third floor. It also can be downloaded from www.16thcircuit.org/streetcar.