What questions will you vote on in the Nov. 7 election — and what do they mean?
Voters around the Kansas City metro will head to the polls for the Nov. 7 election.
During this off-year election, your ballot is likely to feature races for local officials such as city council members, school board members and mayors, as well as ballot questions on city and county proposals.
Here are the questions you’ll be voting on in a handful of local jurisdictions, and what they mean.
Kansas City ballot questions
You can find a sample ballot for the Kansas City election on the Kansas City Election Board’s website. Voters within Kansas City limits in Jackson, Clay and Platte counties will weigh in on two local questions in addition to their own county’s questions.
Question 1 asks whether or not the city should continue its 0.375% sales tax to fund the bus system. This tax must be renewed by voters every 10 years.
Question 2 asks whether or not the city should remove around 5.4 acres of vacant land from the city’s parks system.
Jackson County ballot question
All voters in Jackson County, both within and outside of Kansas City, will vote on whether to impose a countywide use tax that will always match the county’s sales tax — currently at 1.38%.
Money from the tax would be used to fund infrastructure projects, programs for those facing homelessness and repairs to county courthouses.
This use tax would be applied to purchases made in the county from vendors outside of the county. The purpose of local use taxes is to tax transactions where the local sales tax doesn’t apply because the vendor is not based in that jurisdiction.
Shawnee ballot questions
Shawnee is the only city in Johnson County with ballot questions this election. Other cities will vote on local officials like mayors, city council members and school board members.
Question 1 asks voters whether or not the city should continue a 0.125% sales tax. Around half of the money from this tax funds parks and recreation, while the other half funds storm drainage improvements.
Question 2 asks voters whether or not the city should continue a 0.375% sales tax. The money from this tax funds repairs and upgrades to streets, curbs and sidewalks.
Clay County ballot question
All voters in Clay County, both within and outside of Kansas City, will weigh in on one ballot question this election.
Proposition A asks voters whether a monthly $1 fee should be charged to all cell phone plan subscribers in the county in order to fund its 911 call services. If passed, the county would remove the current 911 fee from landline phone plans.
Voting YES means cell phone users’ bills would rise by $1 per month, and landline phone users’ bills would decrease.
Voting NO would mean current phone plans wouldn’t be impacted, and the county’s 911 services would continue to be funded by landline phone plan fees.
Parkville ballot questions
Parkville is the only city in Platte County aside from Kansas City with ballot initiatives this election.
Proposition T proposes implementing a local use tax matching the city’s sales tax (currently 2.5%) in order to collect tax on purchases made from outside Parkville, where the city’s sales tax doesn’t apply. The money from this tax would fund infrastructure projects including roads, sidewalks, highway repairs and recreational trails.
Proposition M asks voters whether or not Parkville should implement a 3% sales tax on marijuana.
Do you have more questions about what’s on your ballot this November? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.
This story was originally published October 24, 2023 at 5:05 AM.
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