Jackson County voters will decide on a Royals and Chiefs stadiums tax on April ballot
Jackson County voters will decide in April whether to continue paying a sales tax for another 40 years to support construction of a new downtown ballpark for the Royals and renovations at Arrowhead Stadium for the Chiefs.
County legislators voted 8-1 on Monday on ballot language for a new 3/8th-cent sales tax to replace the current one that expires in September 2031, eight months after the county’s leases with the Royals and Chiefs at the Truman Sports Complex are set to expire.
They did so contrary to the advice of County Executive Frank White, who asked for four more days to get more concessions from the teams for the county in the deal.
Neither team has signed leases with the county, and several issues remain unresolved, including the precise location of where the new baseball park would be built.
While it wasn’t discussed publicly at the meeting, legislator Jalen Anderson issued a statement Monday evening saying that approval of the ballot measure was contingent upon the teams executing term sheets, setting forth the terms of the leases with the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority by Jan. 20, three days before the deadline to put something on the April ballot.
If that doesn’t happen, he said, “the legislature will move to withdraw the ordinance.” Or members will refuse to override any veto that White might have issued by then.
“Further, the teams must commit to signing leases by March 1st so that the public knows well ahead of the election what all parties’ representations, warranties, and obligations are,” Anderson said.
The teams on Friday put out a joint statement saying that in the negotiations they had agreed to give up the $3.5 million a year they now share from a parks property tax levy that helps support stadium maintenance, and that they would pay to insure the stadiums for the next 40 years. The county now pays the insurance.
Together, the teams said that would be a more than $200 million benefit to the county over those four decades.
But White hoped to get further concessions. One would be a commitment from the teams that would absolve the county of paying for the cost of demolishing Kauffman Stadium. That could cost tens of millions of dollars.
White also wanted promises from the teams that they would maintain their headquarters and the Chiefs’ training facility in Jackson County.
Several NFL teams, such as the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings, have in recent years built those facilities miles away from their stadium as part of multi-use real estate developments.
“This commitment is not just a matter of local pride; it is also about economic stability and the sustained growth of our county,” White told legislators. Monday’s vote erases much of the leverage White might have had to exact those promises from the Chiefs and the Royals.
Both teams have committed to negotiating community development agreements that would guarantee a living wage for workers, union construction jobs and aid for affordable housing in exchange for the billions of dollars in tax support that would go toward the stadium projects. But no agreements have been reached yet.
White came in for criticism in recent months from construction unions and fellow Democratic politicians for allegedly trying to drive too hard of a bargain with the teams.
But White said his mission was to get a fair deal for the taxpayers and urged patience in the face of pressure from the Royals and Chiefs for an April sales tax vote.
“As we navigate these crucial negotiations involving potential commitments of billions of taxpayer dollars, I want to make it abundantly clear: I have not, and will not, rush into any agreement,” he told legislators moments before they voted to let voters decide on the sales tax extension.
“The well-being of Jackson County and its residents is my foremost priority. We are mindful that we have weeks until the April ballot deadline. But we also have seven years remaining on our current leases with both teams, providing us a valuable window to thoroughly evaluate all proposals..”
Voters approved the current sales tax in 2006 to pay the county’s share of the cost of renovating Arrowhead and Kauffman stadiums. The county legislature at that time, however, waited until after the leases were signed to put the sales tax measure on the ballot. The county would later issue $425 million in bonds, while the Royals agreed to spend $25 million and the Chiefs $125 million.
The county is still paying those bonds off. Under the current lease, tax proceeds collected that exceed annual debt payments go to the teams. They split that $20 million a year to pay for repairs, maintenance, management and some operations at the stadiums. White had hoped to alter that arrangement in the lease so that county government got some of the overage.
A lawyer representing the Chiefs on Monday said that an important component of those 2006 leases was not signed, however, until the month before that April’s vote.
The events leading up to Monday’s decision began with Royals owner John Sherman’s announcement in 2021 that the team wanted to leave Kauffman for downtown, where the Royals hoped to construct a $1 billion ballpark with public and private funds.
The Chiefs later said they, too, had big plans. If the sales tax passes, the Chiefs and Royals are also hoping to get subsidies from the state of Missouri. Kansas City would also likely provide assistance, but no dollar figures have been announced.
Additionally, the Royals have said they want to build a privately funded $1 billion real estate development around the ballpark. But it’s unclear what that might look like until the Royals decide where they want the ballpark built. Their preferred site had been the largely vacant land in the East Village area inside the downtown freeway loop. However, the team lately has turned its attention on putting the stadium outside the loop in the East Crossroads area, at or near the site of the former Kansas City Star printing plant.
That would likely require acquiring and demolishing a number of buildings, some of whose owners are reluctant to sell.
This story was originally published January 8, 2024 at 4:06 PM.
