Lee's Summit council votes to put quarter-cent stormwater sales tax on August ballot

The Lee's Summit City Council unanimously directed staff to prepare an ordinance placing a quarter-cent sales tax for stormwater services on the August 2026 ballot.

City Engineer George Binger told the council the recommendation follows months of committee work and analysis of service gaps and long-running maintenance needs. “What staff is asking, from council at this time, would we like to move forward with a ballot measure for a sales tax election, to fund stormwater services?” he said.

The city presented a package of service and staffing increases the plan would fund: two additional operations crews with equipment, a dedicated public educator, an additional engineer and customer-service staff, and an annual small-capital program and master planning work. Binger said the proposed program would allow the public works department to shift from largely reactive repairs—“the band-aid crew”—to preventive maintenance and targeted capital work. He told the council staff estimated the total annual cost of the recommended package at about $6,100,000 in current dollars.

Council members pressed staff on the details of the spending plan and the election timing. Councilmember Mia Pryor said the argument for a sales tax included administrative simplicity and immediate revenue collection; Binger testified a utility fee would require new billing, geographic impervious-area tracking and would likely take two years to stand up. Councilmember Hillary Shields asked for a high-level breakdown; Binger said staffing and equipment comprise most of the cost, with capital and program costs making up the remainder.

Several council members said they supported putting the question to voters. Councilmember Tim Lopez urged a larger sales-tax framing, saying a half-cent was common in peer cities, while Councilmember John Lovell and Councilmember Ryan Funk recommended including a clear project list and accountability measures so voters know what the revenue will fund. Councilmember Carlisle cautioned against a time-limited “sunset” on funding, noting most of the proposal would pay ongoing operations and personnel and that a sunset would complicate staffing retention.

Councilmember Carlisle moved, and Councilmember Shields seconded, a motion to direct staff to draft an ordinance to add a quarter-cent stormwater sales tax to the August 2026 ballot. The motion passed 9-0.

Staff said the next step is drafting the ordinance, preparing voter information, and returning to council for the formal readings of that ordinance. Binger suggested planning voter education and detailed project lists so residents understand how the funds would be used.

If approved by voters, the tax would be collected as a sales-and-use tax and would cover both residential and nonresident-generated retail activity in the city. Binger said the quarter-cent was estimated to cost the typical household roughly $105–$125 per year, depending on which assumptions are used for taxable consumption.

The council vote sends the measure to the city attorney and staff to prepare ordinance language and election timeline for council consideration in October and subsequent readings prior to the August 2026 ballot.