Kansas City, Missouri – Kansas City voters will have a crowded civic question in front of them on August 4, 2026, after the City Council voted to place five separate measures on the ballot.
Together, the proposals reach from the underground systems that carry water and sewage to the public buildings that have shaped the city’s identity for nearly a century. They also include new funding for affordable housing and a renewal of an East Side economic development tax that has been in place since voters first approved it in 2017.
“From the pipes beneath our streets to the roofs over our neighbors’ heads, today’s ballot measures touch every corner of Kansas City life,” said Mayor Quinton Lucas. “We’re putting a comprehensive vision for this city’s future directly in the hands of the people.”
One of the largest questions is a $750 million waterworks revenue bond measure. If approved, the money would be used for rehabilitation, expansion and improvements to Kansas City’s waterworks system. City officials say the goal is to protect reliable service and maintain compliance for residents and businesses. The measure would not affect property taxes, because repayment would come only from water system revenues.
A separate $750 million sanitary sewer revenue bond question will also go to voters. That proposal would fund work on the city’s sewer system, including rehabilitation, expansion, improvements and the purchase of needed land and rights of way.
Like the water bond, it would be repaid only through system revenues and would have no property tax impact. The Council has said the bond issuance would be structured to limit the effect on ratepayers while keeping the system aligned with federal, state and judicial requirements.
Housing will also be on the ballot. A $100 million general obligation bond would direct new resources into Kansas City’s Housing Trust Fund. Created in 2018, the fund has already awarded more than $61 million and supported the creation of nearly 3,000 affordable housing units through a competitive, twice-a-year RFP process overseen by the Housing Trust Fund Board.
If voters approve the new bonds, the money would support rehabilitation, new construction and blight removal for very low- to moderate-income households. The proposal requires no tax increase and needs a four-sevenths majority to pass.
Another $100 million general obligation bond would focus on convention and city facilities, including Municipal Auditorium and the Music Hall, both opened in 1935, along with older government buildings such as City Hall, which opened in 1936.
The measure is also structured as a no-tax-increase proposal, timed over multiple years as existing general obligation debt rolls off. It would fund capital improvements to historic civic buildings that remain part of Kansas City’s public life and continue to generate revenue for the city. This question also requires a four-sevenths majority.
The fifth measure asks voters to renew the Central City Economic Development Sales Tax. The one-eighth cent sales tax has delivered more than $88 million across 58 East Side projects since 2017, supporting jobs, small and locally owned businesses and neighborhood development. If renewed, it would continue for another ten years after the current authorization expires on September 30, 2027.
With all five measures now headed to the ballot, the final decision shifts from City Hall to Kansas City voters.
