Sales tax increase for Kansas City Fire Department moves a step closer to reality
Kansas City officials are on track to place a new citywide sales tax worth more than $300 million over the next 15 years on voters’ April ballots after a City Council committee approved the measure Wednesday.
Since 2002, Kansas City has levied a quarter-cent sales tax to help fund facility upgrades and operations for the Kansas City Fire Department. After voters renewed the tax in 2014, the department upgraded several stations to accommodate all genders of firefighters.
Now, the department wants to add another quarter-cent tax, yielding another $21 million a year for 15 years to help with major upgrades.
According to a presentation by Kansas City Fire Chief Donna Maize, the department needs nearly $80 million for immediate and long-term facility upgrades, equipment and new trucks, pumpers and ambulances.
The committee voted unanimously Wednesday to approve the legislation. The full City Council must act Thursday in order to meet a Jan. 28 deadline for issues appearing on the April ballot. Maize said the city didn’t want the ballot question to get lost in the commotion of Missouri’s presidential primary in March, and she hoped it would be more successful in April than on a fall ballot.
If voters approve the measure in April, the new and existing fire department sales taxes would expire together in 2036.
Maize said she presumed that the additional tax revenue would mean the city could spend less of its general fund on the fire department and redirect resources toward other priorities, but that city officials hadn’t gotten that far in discussions.
An aide to Councilwoman Katheryn Shields, the committee’s chair, refused to make her available for questions about the legislation following the committee meeting. Mayor Quinton Lucas’ office declined to comment.
The committee on Wednesday also pushed through a resolution asking Interim City Manager Earnest Rouse to find funds to replace Station 40, a Northland fire station that closed last year. Maize said the station, on North Oak Trafficway near Englewood Road, needs significant upgrades, including replacement of a septic holding tank that had to be pumped twice a week.
“We’ve known something had to happen at Station 40 for a long time,” Maize said.
The opening of the new Station 15 on Northeast Cookingham Drive, she said, presented an opportunity to move firefighters out of the crumbling station while it could be remodeled, but it has meant crews take about 25% longer to respond to calls in the area.
The department last year received a grant to hire 15 more firefighters, and Maize said the department has a large incoming academy class to fill those positions. Depending on the city’s ability to secure financing, she said she hoped to see Station 40 back up and running in about six months.
This story was originally published January 22, 2020 at 2:28 PM.
