Upcoming Ballot Initiatives
Published on December 30, 2021
The Mayor’s Task Force and City Council have been working diligently to find creative and affordable solutions to replace aging infrastructure throughout the city, including our water lines and streets that are quickly approaching their end of life. The City Council has approved a multi part solution that consists of four ballot questions that will be presented to voters in April which include: revenue bonds and a no tax increase extension of the existing ½ cent capital improvement sales tax to replace water infrastructure, no tax increase general obligation (GO) bonds for the continuation of the Street Reconstruction project and the approval of a use tax which will provide funding for additional capital improvement projects and maintenance of city services.
Water Infrastructure
Mayor Larkey created a Mayor’s Task Force to look for a solution to replace the city’s failing water lines and infrastructure with no rate increase for water line replacement. The task force’s recommendation to City Council was to ask voters to approve $60 million of revenue bonds and to extend the existing ½ cent capital improvement sales tax to pay for the bonds, on the upcoming April ballot.
If voters approve both the revenue bonds and the extension of the existing ½ cent capital improvement sales tax, the funds will enable the city to replace all the failing water infrastructure in the next five years – with no rate increase for water line infrastructure. “I truly believe that this plan will allow us to repair the water infrastructure while keeping monthly water costs for our residents and families down,” said Mayor Norman K. Larkey.
Street GO Bonds
Over the past three years, the city has reconstructed and resurfaced 17.5 miles of residential roads, replaced 48,000 feet of curb, and brought 113 sidewalk ramps into ADA compliance. These much-needed upgrades were completed with bond money after voters approved general obligation bonds in 2019 for street improvements. The City Council wants to continue improving the quality of our city’s streets through an additional no tax increase $21 million general obligation (GO) bond.
Voters will be asked for their approval of the no tax increase Street GO bonds in April 2022, to continue the much-needed reconstruction of our streets. The goal is for all of the streets in our city to have a rating of satisfactory or higher.
Use Tax
Voters will be asked to approve a use tax in April. If approved, purchases from out-of-state businesses delivered to a Belton address will be taxed the same as an item purchased in a Belton store. At no time are a use tax and sales tax collected on the same transaction, it is one or the other, never both. A purchase will never be taxed twice.
The funds generated by the use tax would pay for parks, pets, pathways and pavement. The use tax funds would allow the city to match available MoDOT funds for the widening of I-49 to 6 lanes from 155th Street to North Cass Parkway. Additional projects, subject to City Council approval, could include a splash pad, a sidewalk grant program for property owners to construct and improve sidewalks throughout the city, improvements to the dog park, additional funding for the ongoing maintenance of streets and neighborhood stormwater projects, and improvements to trails and Cleveland Lake.
The Mayor and City Council will be hosting an open forum in March 2022 to answer any questions you may have about the upcoming ballot initiatives. Keep an eye out for a date and time announcement.
Make sure to get out and vote on April 5th, 2022. To register to vote and find your polling location please visit -- https://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/goVoteMissouri/howtovote?fbclid=IwAR0otoUS0Lqvi6F8xhQSOilu4hTo4iESA8ArFFNgBG0fUs80JGVFANAOj2w