your vote determines the future of the crossroads
Learn more about the 40-year tax bill that is on the Jackson County ballot this April, and what a vote NO will do to preserve small businesses and the future of the arts in the Crossroads District.
YOUR VOICE MATTERS
Despite what you may have heard, the proposed Royals Stadium in the Crossroads Art District is not set in stone. Without funding from the 40-year stadium tax on the April ballot, Jackson County residents will be able to consider a variety of alternate stadium locations that do not propose the destruction of small businesses in the Crossroads Art Distrct.
no bulldozers
Vote NO to prevent the destruction of small businesses.
no rent hikes
Vote NO to prevent rent hikes that will push the arts out of the Crossroads.
FAQs
Find answers to common questions about the bill to gain clarity and transparency.
A 3/8-cent sales tax in Jackson County already funds maintenance and repairs for Arrowhead and Kauffman stadiums. Because the sales tax is earmarked for the Truman Sports Complex, the Royals cannot use these funds for the team’s downtown stadium plans.
A “yes” vote would repeal the existing sales tax, set to expire in 2031, and replace it with a new sales tax that is not restricted to the Truman Sports Complex. The money would be used to repair Arrowhead Stadium and to construct and maintain the new downtown stadium. It also extends the tax until 2064.
A “no” vote will continue funding Truman Sports Complex — which includes Arrowhead Stadium and Kauffman Stadium — using the existing 3/8-cent sales tax until 2031.
The Jackson County Legislature will need to take action after the April election to actually authorize the tax, and its decision may be informed by the yet-to-be-negotiated lease agreements and community benefits agreement. If there’s no deal, the Legislature could still vote not to authorize the sales tax.The sales tax is expected to generate $54 million per year, which would be split between the Chiefs and the Royals.To cover upfront expenses for the construction of the new stadium, Jackson County could take out a loan that would be paid off using the sales tax revenue.
Before the Chiefs or the Royals can use it, the money must first pay off debt obligations.
That could include stadium construction if the county finances it through a loan. After that, the Chiefs and Royals would submit expenses to the JCSCA for reimbursement.
This money is controlled by the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority, or JCSCA, which would disburse it to the teams.
The ballot language itself is broad.
The $54 million a year generated by this sales tax can be used for demolition in the Crossroads, construction and furnishing, maintenance, repairs and operations at Arrowhead Stadium and the new baseball stadium and the hotels, offices and other Royals-controlled development around the new ballpark.
The lease agreements with the teams should eventually narrow this down to a more limited set of uses, but the teams have not yet agreed to a lease with the county.“ The ballot language is so nebulous that it can be spent on whatever is deemed appropriate by lease,” Abarca said. “It could include components of the community benefits agreement, beautification around the stadium, infrastructure, that kind of thing.”
In short, no.
For development projects like apartments receiving a tax break, Kansas City agencies are required to complete a third-party “but-for” analysis.
For that kind of study, an independent financial expert looks at a project’s cost to calculate how much of a tax incentive is needed for a project to be financially practical. In other words, “but for” the incentive, the project would not be possible.
That kind of analysis has not been conducted for the Royals stadium. The new stadium may or may not be possible without the sales tax revenue — we simply don’t know, because the Royals have not made the financial details of the project public.
Spread the word throughout Jackson County... the stadium tax is detrimental to small businesses and a needless expense on the back of taxpayers.
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