ShawneeDispatch.com

The Board of Johnson County Commissioners will conduct a public hearing June 7 on the emerging bistate plan and efforts to place the sales tax proposal on the Nov. 2 General Election ballots in Johnson County.

The timing of the public hearing and an accompanying work session, was discussed by the Board during its weekly business session on Thursday, May 13. The main concern was trying to provide a forum for the Board to fully question bistate supporters on the issue and setting aside a time and place for citizens to have their say.

The Board will meet with bistate proponents during a June 3 work session, beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the hearing room on the third floor of the Johnson County Administration Building, 111 S. Cherry St., in downtown Olathe. No public comments are accepted during any work sessions of the Board.

To provide a public forum about bistate, the Board scheduled a hearing on the issue for June 7. On Thursday, the Board directed staff to come up with a suitable site to accommodate a larger gathering than the meeting room with a maximum capacity of 150 people.

Arrangements for the public hearing were finalized Friday. It will begin at 6:30 p.m. on June 7 in GEB 233 at Johnson County Community College, 12345 College Blvd., in Overland Park.

Comments at the public hearing will have time restrictions to allow as many citizens as possible the opportunity to voice their views. The Board will review the comments during its business session on June 10.

The proposed quarter-cent bistate sales tax is expected to last about 15 years and raise about to $1.4 billion, to be divided between supporting improvements to Kansas City's Arrowhead and Kauffman stadiums, home of the Chiefs and Royals, and benefiting metropolitan arts programs in both Kansas and Missouri.

The bistate question is not on the Johnson County ballot yet, but the board is expected to place it there soon.

A public vote on the bistate issue can be authorized either by a majority of the Board voting to place the issue on the November ballots or by a successful petition drive requiring the Board, by law, to do so.

The Board plans to discuss the possibility of ordering a public vote in Johnson County during its weekly business session on June 10, beginning at 9:30 a.m. in the main meeting room. If approved by a majority of the Board, the action does not indicate the Board endorses the bistate proposal, only that it supports a public vote on the issue.

"I rely on the common sense of our citizens to make the ultimate decision," Fifth District Commissioner Doug Wood said.

If the Board decides not to put the bistate question to a public vote, proponents of the proposal are expected to launch a petition drive in June, seeking enough Johnson County signatures to require the Board to put the issue on the November ballots for voters to decide.

A similar petition drive occurred in June 2002, collecting enough signatures in about three weeks to authorize a public vote on the bistate issue in November of that year, but the issue, with the backing of bistate supporters, was not placed on the ballot by the Board.

Two years later, bistate proponents now are proposing approval of the sales tax to provide funding to be split between supporting sports stadiums and the arts.

A final plan for possible use of the bistate sales tax revenue has not been announced, but is expected before the Board's June 3 work session and the June 7 public hearing.