Johnson County board directs staff to place public safety sales tax renewal on November ballot

The Johnson County Board of County Commissioners voted 6-1 on a motion to direct staff to bring back a business item on May 8 placing a renewal of the county's public safety 3 sales tax on the Nov. 2025 general election ballot.

Chairman Mike Kelly, chairman of the Board of County Commissioners, told colleagues he favored a November ballot because it gives time for public education and avoids the estimated $1 million cost of a March special election. "I believe that we should renew the public safety sales tax and we should go to the ballot in November 2025 to do so," Kelly said during the Committee of the Whole meeting.

Why it matters: County staff told commissioners that Johnson County faces rising costs driven by inflation and demographic change while traditional revenue sources are constrained. Robin Sines, the county's budget director, said "from 2019 to 2024, the cumulative increase in CPI was 22.5%, while the building cost index was 36.5%" and noted slower sales-tax growth and limits on assessed valuation growth. Staff estimated a quarter-cent renewal of the existing public safety 3 sales tax would yield about $35,000,000 annually for the county; a new health-and-safety sales tax option that would not be shared with cities was estimated at about…