Stating it is time for them to make their own way, the City of Parkville plans to ask voters to approve a dedicated sales tax for parks and recreation in April 2019.
At the Tuesday, Dec. 18 meeting the board of aldermen gave preliminary approval to the ballot question, with final approval scheduled for the Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2019 meeting.
If approved by voters on Tuesday, April 2, 2019, the city would begin collecting a sales tax of one-half of one percent, or one-half of one cent per one dollar, on all retail sales spent within the city for the next 10 years beginning in October 2019. According to a statement from the city, the sales tax would provide long-term self-funding to improve park facilities and help ensure the sustainability of the Parkville parks system. All revenue collected from the sales tax — about $500,000 annually — would only be used for funding Parkville parks and related activities and improvements.
At the meeting, alderman Marc Sportsman said while Platte County and the county’s parks sales tax has provided invaluable support over the years, the city can no longer rely on the county to help out. Current county commissioners have long supported the reduction of the county’s half-cent parks tax, which will expire in 2020. Instead, the county is shifting its focus to a law enforcement tax, including a possible county-level sales tax to fund construction of a new detention center in Platte City.
In 2016, the city adopted a parks master plan outlining plans for the city’s park system, including an ambitious riverfront park project.
The plan outlines maintenance and improvement of the parks system and operations. Also included were recommendations regarding department organization, how to increase funding for maintenance and amenities, closing the maintenance gap, ideas for programming and promoting citywide connectivity to parks and open space. The park planning process involved several workshops and public forums where citizens provided comments and feedback.
The Community Land and Recreation Board (CLARB) is prioritizing projects for improvements to the city’s park system. The top three 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.
Also at the meeting, the board unanimously approved a slate of candidates for the Parkville Old Towne Market Community Improvement District (PTMCID). Feuds between the city and members of the PTMCID board have been ongoing since roughly 2010, with flare-ups every so often. Accusations of conflicts of interest, unanswered questions and personality conflicts have been levied by both sides for years, and the city’s board of aldermen has refused to approve CID board nominations since 2014.
This time, the slate of candidates includes alderman Dave Rittman, who has been working with CID board members to resolve conflicts.
“Everyone is really trying to work through the situation,” Rittman said. “This has been going on for years. It doesn’t matter anymore who is right; it doesn’t matter who is wrong. It’s time to just draw a line in the sand and move ahead from here.”
The approved slate includes Gordon Cook, Tom Hutsler and Milton Wright as business operator representatives and Dave Williams and Dave Rittman as property owner representatives. Their terms run through June 2020.