KCK officials reveal more details of Chiefs stadium plan. Residents can weigh in
Wyandotte County residents will soon have the opportunity to tell local officials what they think about the Kansas City Chiefs’ plans to move to town. They’ll also get to say whether their government should help foot the bill for a new stadium, according to a Saturday news release.
The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, will host a public hearing on Tuesday during which residents will be able to weigh in on whether officials should direct local sales and use tax revenues generated within a portion of Wyandotte County to help pay off sales tax and revenue (STAR) bond debt used to finance the planned, $3 billion domed stadium.
Following that hearing, officials will decide during a Thursday evening meeting on whether they should approve an ordinance that would allow the government to use local sales tax revenues generated in the area around the proposed stadium to pay back the bonds used to build it over the next few decades.
Both Tuesday’s hearing and Thursday’s regular commission meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the Unified Government’s main office building, located at 701 N. 7th Street in downtown KCK.
Team, state and local officials in December announced that the Chiefs would be leaving their longtime home at Arrowhead Stadium and cross state lines into Kansas. The nearly $4 billion plan includes a stadium in KCK and a new training facility and team headquarters in Olathe.
As the county with more STAR bond projects than anywhere else in Kansas, Wyandotte County is well acquainted with the funding mechanism. Should leadership decide to opt into using their local sales tax revenues to pay for the stadium, that project would add to the millions in incremental sales tax dollars that it already annually dedicates to paying off STAR bond debt.
But this STAR bond district state officials have in mind is different from what the Unified Government Board of Commissioners has previously approved in Wyandotte County.
As far as Wyandotte taxpayers are concerned, the stadium bond district has two different components — a sweeping district that will redirect state sales tax money, and a smaller district surrounding the stadium that would redirect local sales tax money.
Typically, STAR bond districts encompass a new development aimed at attracting tourists and its immediate surrounding area, redirecting both state and local sales taxes generated by that development to pay off the debt used to build it.
But the district that state officials proposed to pay back the Chiefs stadium bonds covers nearly all of Wyandotte County and most of western Johnson County. That means new state sales tax money throughout that entire area would be put toward paying back stadium debt instead of other government priorities for years to come.
The Unified Government’s proposed map, meanwhile, is smaller. It describes pulling local sales tax money from 236 acres of property in west KCK, north of State Avenue and between 126th and 118th Streets, surrounding the new stadium. That land sits west of the American Royal and Plaza and the Speedway bond districts and northwest of the Kansas Speedway.
The state has already said it would chip in $2.7 billion for the project through STAR bonds, but Wyandotte hasn’t formally made the decision if it will pitch in its local money.
Tuesday’s and Thursday’s meetings will be the first time the county’s governing body will publicly discuss specifics about the project. Their ultimate decision will come at a time when the local government is experiencing financial difficulties and when residents have struggled to keep up with high utility and property tax bills.
The vote on local sales tax revenues has a Feb. 20 deadline, County Administrator David Johnston told The Star earlier this month.
People who wish to weigh during the public comment hearing may do so in person during the meeting or submit a written comment by noon on the day of the hearing, according to the release. Participants will have two minutes to speak during the in-person public comment.
