Three ballot initiatives were at stake in yesterday’s election, two questions at the city level and one question at the county level. All were decided with a roughly 10.5% voter turnout inside the Kansas City city limits.
The first question on the ballot was Jackson County Question 1 that asked voters to pass a local use tax to finance a myriad of issues at the county level including roads, bridges, courthouse repairs and homeless assistance. The tax, really a sales tax, was defeated by an almost 60-40% margin county wide. Interestingly, voters inside the Kansas City city limits voted in favor of the tax but out-county voters sent it packing by an over 3-1 margin.
Two Kansas City questions were also on the ballot, one renewing a public transit tax and another balloted by the city’s Parks department, asking voters to vacate roughly 5.4 acres of undeveloped, city park land near 32nd Terrace and North Oak Trafficway.
Voters passed the 3/8 cent “bus tax” by an overwhelming margin for another ten years. “Thank you to the voters of Kansas City for once again renewing this critical transit tax to keep our buses rolling,” said Frank White, III, KCATA president and CEO. “If there was ever any doubt about the broad-based community support for public transportation in Kansas City, it was eliminated by a margin of 73% yesterday.”
Kansas City voters also passed Question 2, removing 5.4 acres of public park land from the Parks System. The land in question is a heavily wooded slice of land just to the south and east of the old Farmland Industries building on North Oak Trafficway. The question passed by a 2-1 margin.
