Platte County officials will be headed back to the drawing board after a resounding defeat of the county’s capital improvements sales tax proposal, which would have funded construction of a new jail facility.
The half-cent sales tax was planned to run for six and one-quarter years to fund the expansion of Platte County’s jail, provide additional space for the prosecutor, evidence storage and an additional courtroom. The tax was estimated to generate approximately $65 million dollars in sales and use tax.
On Tuesday, April 2, the tax proposal was defeated with more than 62 percent of voters saying no. Vote totals were 6,367 no votes to 3,848 yes votes.
Sheriff Mark Owen was pragmatic about the results.
“It’s disappointing, but the last one took two tries too,” Owen said, referencing the proposal that funded construction of the current jail facility, which was completed in 1998. “We’re just going to have to sit down at the table and figure out what we’re going to do, because the problem won’t go away.”
Owen has told commissioners for years that the current detention center would not be adequate for future needs, with the push to look at a new facility starting in 2012. He said changes to rules regarding bonding for non-violent offenders could temporarily take some pressure off the facility, but rising numbers of inmates will eventually force action.
County commissioners will have to be the ones to take that action.
“I respect how voters weighed in,” said first district commissioner Dagmar Wood of the results. “We’ll now have to figure out how to address the peaks in our inmate population as crime is not expected to get any better. Our current jail that opened 21 years ago was built to address growing inmate needs for 20 years. We’ve stretched that out and packed them in beyond what was originally designed. Lack of pace for our entire justice system will continue to be a growing concern.”
The proposal would have funded the addition of about 200 beds to the currently 180-bed detention facility, repairs and improvements to the existing jail and relocated the sheriff’s office to allow the county prosecutor to move into the space. This would have freed up space in the historic courthouse building for the addition of another division of the Platte County Circuit Court.
Architects estimated that once construction begins it would take approximately 18-24 months to complete construction. Owen said this defeat extends the timeline even further into the future as now it will take longer to craft another proposal to put before voters.
PARKVILLE PARKS SALES TAX
The outlook is much brighter in Parkville for its namesake parks as voters approved the city’s half-cent sales tax proposal in a near-landslide. Nearly 70 percent of voters approved the measure, with 1,042 yes votes to 464 votes no.
The sales tax is dedicated to fund parks maintenance and operations for 10 years and will take effect on Oct. 1 to provide an estimated $500,000 each year to improve the city’s parks and recreation facilities. Over a 10 year period, these funds would be supplied to building new park and recreation facilities and maintaining existing facilities.
The city maintains over 200 acres of parkland, including English Landing Park, Platte Landing Park, the Parkville and Sullivan nature sanctuaries and several neighborhood parks.
The top three funding priorities include trail connectivity; completion of the ballfields and multipurpose fields in Platte Landing Park; and upgrades to and maintenance of smaller neighborhood parks and trails that have a more direct impact to community members in the area.
PLATTE CITY
Platte City voters also supported city proposals, granting permission to issue nearly $6 million in general obligation bonds to improve city facilities and infrastructure in the Highway 92 corridor.
“The board of aldermen and the mayor wish to thank the citizens for today’s support of two important bond issues,” said mayor Frank Offutt of the results on Tuesday night. “In the morning we shall begin working to sustain the confidence granted by our citizens.”
NORTHMOOR
Northmoor voters also approved a local use tax at the same rate as the local sales tax rate with 21 residents voting yes and only four voting no. A use tax return shall not be required to filed by persons whose purchases from out-of-state vendors do not exceed in total of $2,000 in a calendar year.
KANSAS CITY
Kansas City voters in Platte County did not support the city’s proposed pre-K economic development sales tax, with 71 percent of voters saying no. The program would have funded pre-K instruction for 4- and 5-year olds the year before they entered kindergarten. Platte County’s results mirrored the city-wide tallies, with 67 percent of voters saying no according to preliminary reports.