Wyandotte County commissioners are set to revisit the fine print on the Chiefs stadium deal, and the changes under consideration would strip away several protections they put in place just months ago.
At a 5:30 p.m. meeting Thursday, the Unified Government Board of Commissioners will vote on an amended ordinance that would loosen the county’s control over how future tax revenues tied to the project can be used. If approved, the move would remove language limiting the state and team to state and local incremental sales tax dollars generated by the development and its immediate surrounding area.
That matters because the amendment would also erase language that blocked the state from deciding whether to steer new state sales tax dollars from across Wyandotte County, rather than just the stadium site area, into the project.
The Chiefs’ new stadium in Kansas City, Kansas, is part of a broader package that also leans on a not-yet-finalized state sales tax and revenue, or STAR, bond district. A preliminary version of that district was shown to potentially include all of Wyandotte and half of Johnson County.
The ordinance commissioners are scheduled to consider would also cut out other local safeguards. One change would remove the county’s ability to weigh in if the state or the team tries to alter the size or scope of the project. Another would strike a provision giving the Unified Government a chance to review “Definite Documentation” tied to the deal, including language that said infrastructure around the stadium had to be covered by STAR bonds instead of local money.
The proposal would also eliminate a requirement that Kansas City, Kansas Mayor Christal Watson, with commission approval, appoint someone from the Unified Government to a stadium community impact committee.
The meeting is set for the fifth floor of the Unified Government building at 701 N. 7th St., according to the agenda.
The Chiefs announced the move in December. It includes a stadium in KCK and a new team headquarters and training facility in Olathe, with entertainment districts planned around both sites.
State and team officials have said the bulk of the move would be financed with $2.8 billion in state-issued STAR bonds, paid back through new state sales tax revenue collected within a state-defined area.
Wyandotte County already signed off in February on using a portion of future local sales, use and transient guest tax revenue for the project. Under that vote, all new local sales, use and up to 8% of transient guest tax revenue generated in a 236-acre area in west KCK would help pay stadium bond debt for as long as 30 years.
That “Base Revenue Area” runs north of State Avenue between 126th and 118th Streets, and the stadium itself would sit just northwest of the Kansas Speedway.
Before Wyandotte County acted, the Olathe City Council unanimously approved using city dollars to help finance its part of the project. Local sales tax revenue generated on 165 acres inside Olathe city limits will be directed toward paying off the bond debt.
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