Should Kansas City keep this sales tax for bus service? Voters will decide in November
Kansas City voters will be asked at the Nov. 7 election to approve a 10-year extension to the 3/8ths-cent sales tax that supports bus service within city limits.
Underline that word bus.
The ballot language says that the proceeds collected will specifically be directed to support bus service provided by the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority. The original proposed ballot language introduced by Mayor Quinton Lucas did not say that. Some mass transit advocates were concerned his wording left city officials wiggle room to divert that money to other modes of transit or city projects.
That measure, when it was first introduced in May, said the tax would go “for the purposes of developing, operating, maintaining, equipping, and improving a public mass transportation system.”
The council’s Transportation, Infrastructure and Operations Committee on Wednesday crossed out “mass transportation system” and replaced that wording with “bus transit system for Kansas City, pursuant to contract with Kansas City Area Transportation Authority.” Committee members advanced the measure to the full council with the recommendation that the ballot language be put on the ballot.
KCATA President and CEO Frank White III and several transit advocates thanked the committee for the change, which had been the subject of lots of lobbying behind the scenes.
Councilwoman Melissa Robinson, vice chair of the committee, said a well-supported bus system is crucial to her constituents in the 3rd District.
‘Critical funding’
The Sunrise Movement KC, a group that calls itself “a cross-class, multi-racial movement of young people fighting for a livable future,” issued a statement ahead of the committee vote calling for a change in the original ballot language.
“Without this bus-specific language, the City is liable to redirect this indispensable funding towards additional streetlight replacements or boutique airport rail projects that benefit tourists and wealthy travelers,” the group said. “We are not opposed to these ideas per se, but there are other ways the city could fund them. With our buses already struggling to provide a basic level of service, City Council must protect this critical funding stream for our bus system.”
The city has levied a separate, half-cent sales tax to fund bus service since 1971 that is not subject to voter approval. The 3/8s-cent tax was added in 2004 through a ballot issue approved that previous November.
Without that additional money, KCATA said at the time that it would have to cut its budget by 25%, which would have meant eliminating eight bus routes, reducing service on 19 others and cutting service on Sunday and Saturday night. The tax was supposed to be temporary and then replaced by a metro-wide transit tax, but that never happened.
Voters overwhelmingly renewed the tax in the fall of 2008 for 15 years. If it fails at the polls in November, the tax is set to expire next spring.
The KCATA also receives federal aid and coordinates bus service throughout the metro area. It has 13 contracts with various municipalities for the provision of specific services.
Fares were another source of revenue until February 2020, when RideKC quit collecting them. According to the KCATA, the free-fare policy will continue “for the foreseeable future, dependent on identifying a funding source.”
Last month the transportation authority’s board of commissioners instructed White to find new funding sources for the zero-fare program and complete a feasibility study by December on “the possible reinstitution” of bus fares.
This story was originally published August 17, 2023 at 4:23 PM.
