Kansas City Council OKs tax increase for fire department; voters to decide in April
Kansas City voters will decide in April whether to increase sales taxes after the City Council on Thursday approved the hike to help fund equipment and station upgrades for the fire department.
The vote came despite objections from several council members who said the legislation was jammed through. Members first talked about it publicly in the Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee on Wednesday.
Councilman Eric Bunch, 4th District, said it was a “red flag” for him that the legislation had been on council members’ radar for only a week.
“I just have to continue to express that concern, that this is such a large ask of the public, and we as a council have a duty to vet these ordinances and decide what goes to the … ballot,” Bunch said.
Should voters approve the measure in April, the existing fire sales tax would go up from a quarter-cent to a half-cent. The entire half-cent sales tax expires in 2036. Each quarter-cent equates to roughly $21 million per year, meaning the increase will bring in an extra $315 million over its lifespan.
It’s needed, proponents say, to fund significant capital needs for the fire department. At committee, Kansas City Fire Chief Donna Maize said the department needs $80 million in immediate and long-term facility upgrades, equipment and new trucks, pumpers and ambulances.
Councilwoman Katheryn Shields, chair of the committee that discussed the issue Wednesday, stressed the importance of funding public safety and said much of the Kansas City firefighters’ gear is too old to be completely effective.
“We know they don’t have protective gear that actually protects them,” Shields said.
Mayor Quinton Lucas was out of town Thursday at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, but said in a statement that the department “has asked for an opportunity to explain to the public the rationale for a tax increase.”
“They now will have that opportunity over the months ahead,” Lucas said. “I maintain that City Hall can and must also find ways to reallocate pre-existing tax dollars to meet modern-day needs. I’ll continue working to ensure that we’re strategically spending and stretching each dollar as far as we can.”
Lucas has previously told The Star he is not supportive of any new tax increases.
Several council members said they understood the fire department’s needs but were not comfortable approving a tax increase so quickly. For the question to appear on the April ballot, the council had to act this week.
Councilwoman Ryana Parks-Shaw, 5th District, suggested the council put the question on the August or November ballot instead, arguing that the city would need time to make its case to voters.
“If we have questions and we’re unsure about the details of how it’s going to be spent and the public doesn’t believe that we have done our due diligence, I don’t know that it’s likely that it will pass,” Parks-Shaw said.
But Shields said the city needs to spend about $4 million to replace aging protective clothing for firefighters, and it needs to know whether the voters will approve the tax by the time the new fiscal year starts on May 1.
Councilwoman Teresa Loar, 2nd District at-large, arguing that the Kansas City Police Department also faced equipment needs, introduced an ordinance to increase a separate public safety sales tax. But she did not get the necessary nine votes to introduce and approve it in one day. Instead, it was sent to committee.
The election will be held April 7. Voters much register by March 11.
Voters can check their registration status on the Missouri Secretary of State’s website, https://s1.sos.mo.gov/elections/voterlookup.
This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 6:07 PM.
