Edwardsville voters approve sales tax to fund new City Hall, fire and police stations
Edwardsville residents voted Tuesday to create an additional sales tax that city officials plan to use for building a new City Hall , and police and fire stations.
Voters supported two separate ballot measures that each carry a half-cent tax on every retail dollar spent in the town. Both passed by margins above 56%, according to unofficial results from the Wyandotte County Election Office.
City leaders pitched the plan to residents as a necessary measure to rebuild aging and inadequate buildings.
The local police station is a modular building — essentially a series of trailers bolted together — that was purchased for $1 in 2014. Early redesign plans developed for the city envision briefing rooms, secure file storage, holding cells and locker rooms.
Under the concept pitched to residents, the city will build a new City Hall and police station as one. That building would also include a public library and computer lab.
The fire station, whose chief is in an office trailer outside the main building, would see an addition to include separate sleeping quarters and other modern features.
The ballot measures had support from city council members and the mayor. Edwardsville City Manager Mark Mathies told The Star previously that the hope is to pay off the bonds — in part thanks to projected economic growth in the town — within a 10-year window.
Mathies said during an interview last month the city's plan is a "very conservative" one that will also accomplish longer term goals of making a new public square the community can be proud of.
"We're not just building Taj Mahal," he said.
City officials put the two measures on the ballot to align with Kansas legal caps on sales tax initiatives.
Half of the penny is a special sales tax with a 10-year sunset. The measure earmarks the tax dollars collected to pay off roughly $16 million in bonds authorized under the same vote.
The other half is technically an unrestricted sales tax collection with no statutory end date. Elected and administrative leaders have said those funds are pledged to the project, promising to phase out the tax when the debt is paid.
Edwardsville, a small town of roughly 4,700 residents, has little retail to tax.
But the city is home to a large industrial park. And under Kansas law, retailers are required to abide by destination-based rules that consider where a product ends up. That provides Edwardsville the ability to tax sales on items purchased elsewhere that are shipped into town.
City officials have described the sales tax as a way to raise the money needed for the project without overburdening residents. It comes as Wyandotte County leaders face heightened pressure to lessen the cost of property taxes.
The total project cost is estimated at roughly $18 million. The added sales tax is expected to generate roughly $900,000 in its first year.
