.4-percent sales tax on primary election ballot

Voters in Jackson County will go to the polls on Aug. 4 to decide whether to renew the county’s .4 percent special retailers’ sales tax that was first approved 22 years ago in 2004.

The county’s current special sales tax expires on March 31, 2027, and if the tax is renewed for another seven years during the primary election, it will take effect April 1, 2027.

The question on the ballot states: Shall a Four-Tenths percent (.4%) countywide retailers’ sales tax be levied in Jackson County under K.S.A. 12-187(b)(13) for the purpose of financing public improvements such as roads and bridges, with the same to be effective on April 1, 2027 and with this tax to expire Seven (7) years after its effective date? 

The current retailers’ sales tax generates about $600,000 annually for the road and bridge department — about $50,000 per month, said Jackson County Commissioner Keith Kelly. 

“If we don’t renew it, that means we have to make the money up through ad valorem tax,” Kelly said. “And if we don’t make it up, that just means there’s a lot of roads that won’t get gravel on an annual basis.”

Kelly said special sales tax funds are only used to purchase road rock for the road and bridge department. The funds are not used for purchasing fuel or equipment.

The county also budgets additional funds each year to purchase rock.

“In the five and a half years I’ve been a commissioner, the price of rock has increased from $13 a ton to more than $23 a ton at one of the quarries,” Kelly said. “Every quarry has gone up in pricing.”

It is estimated that 25 to 35 percent of the sales tax is paid by nonresidents, people traveling through the county who stop to make retail purchases, according to Jackson County Clerk Kristie Richter, citing an economic impact study. 

“I believe a sales tax is the fairest form of tax because it covers a broader number of people,” Kelly said. “If we relied only on people who paid ad valorem tax to cover the county budget, it would put a larger burden on homeowners, landowners and business owners. But with sales tax, we’re catching people who are coming to Banner Lake for the weekend, for example, or traveling through from other counties buying gas.”

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