Voters rejected the last two Jackson County tax increases. Could No. 3 be the charm?

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Jackson County voters twice rejected tax increases in the past 10 months, both by big margins. Last fall it was a new sales tax on online purchases that lost by a landslide . Then a 40-year stadium sales tax to support the Royals and Chiefs failed resoundingly at the polls in April.

Now the county’s elected officials are crossing their fingers as they try again. This time it’s for a property tax levy that would raise millions of dollars to support social programs for people of retirement age.

If it passes, Jackson County would join Clay, Platte, Ray and more than 50 other Missouri counties that already levy a property tax to finance their own “senior citizens’ services fund” to help people who are 60 and above live independently as they get older.

But getting enough yes votes could be a challenge, legislator Manny Abarca warned as he and his seven colleagues in attendance for the tax vote decided unanimously Monday to put the question to voters in the November general election.

“The intent I 100% agree with, absolutely positively,” he said. “But the reality is that because of the state of where we are, the reality that we have lost two other tax initiatives…I worry about this.”

He said taxpayers are already frustrated about their rising property tax bills as a result of the 2023 reassessment s that hiked values and noted a lack of public awareness about the goals of the tax.

It was added to the legislature’s agenda only this month and got its first and only public hearing on Monday. During that half hour session, only supporters of the proposed senior levy gave testimony, and there was no discussion of what the specific financial impact would be on individual homeowners.

Tax would raise millions

The Star’s spot check of county records showed that the owner of a house worth $345,000 would likely pay about $33 more in taxes every year, based on the proposal to levy a nickel tax on every $100 of the assessed value of a piece of real estate.

According to legislator Donna Peyton’s office, who co-sponsored the proposal with colleague Jalen Anderson, the tax would raise roughly $8-10 million a year.

The money would go into a special fund administered by a seven-member board appointed by the county legislature.

State lawmakers passed the enabling legislation 35 years ago that lets Missouri counties create senior services funds, if their voters authorize it.

In our area, voters in Clay, Platte and Ray counties approved such funds that support agencies that provide older people with meals, transportation, home repairs and other services.

Tax supporters say a new Jackson County program would do the same by easing the financial burdens that now limit what services nonprofits can provide.

“Our funding has helped seniors get the safety modifications and home repairs to help older adults to be able to stay in their homes,” Tina Uridge, executive director of Clay County Senior Services told county legislators.

“We helped to make up the funding shortage for five senior centers so that they could improve staffing programs to meet in the nutritional needs of our community, and we’re providing wellness programs to keep seniors healthy and active, to prevent social isolation.”

Help is needed, advocates say

More than 20 social services groups, ranging from Habitat for Humanity, to the AARP and the Missouri Council on Aging, wrote letters of support this month urging legislators to put the measure on the ballot.

Janet Baker, executive director of the KC Shepherd’s Center, led off the hearing by noting that voters passed a sales tax in 2016 that pours millions of sales tax dollars into a Jackson County Children’s Services Fund.

Older people who voted for and paid taxes for decades to support others now deserve help, too, she said. And those needs will only grow, she said, as more and more the baby boomers retire, with Gen XZ right behind them.

“Seniors are the ones who vote for the children’s levies, the school levies, libraries, the mental health fund, the blind pension, bonds to support Jackson County, and frankly, all of you,” she told legislators.

“These are the people who have reliably paid their taxes to support Jackson County for decades longer than anyone else. All these seniors and the organizations that help them remain safely in their homes are asking is: Do they count too?”

Supporters plan to create a campaign committee to push passage of the tax, said Uridge, who is also president of Missouri Association of Levy Boards and Senior Organizations.