FAQ

To register to vote, visit the Johnson County Election Office website.

Registered voters can expect ballots to arrive by mail. Ballots will be delivered to registered Overland Park residents in late May or early June of 2023. 

To find out if you are registered to vote visit the Kansas Secretary of State website.

To register to vote, visit the Johnson County Election Office website.

At the special election, the proposition to be voted upon will appear on the ballot as follows: 

Shall the following be adopted? 

Shall the City of Overland Park, Kansas (the “City”), be authorized to levy a three-eighth of one percent (0.375%) Special Purpose City Retailers’ Sales Tax within the City of Overland Park, Kansas (also known as “OP Moves”), and to use the revenue from the tax, in whole or in part with any other funds, to fund an infrastructure improvement program consisting of repairing, rebuilding, rehabilitating, upgrading, constructing and improving City streets and related infrastructure, and to fund a traffic management program, including but not limited to, repairing, upgrading and replacing traffic signalization; such tax to take effect on April 1, 2024, the day following expiration of the existing one-eighth of one percent (0.125%) Special Purpose City Retailers’ Sales Tax; such tax to end March 31, 2034; and such tax to be in addition to the ongoing one percent (1.0%) City Retailers’ Sales Tax currently levied?

Yes  No

By voting “Yes”, you are voting to allow the City to charge a three-eighth of one cent sales tax for every dollar spent on goods and services in Overland Park for ten years, starting in April 2024. The revenue generated from the tax would only be used to fund City infrastructure and traffic management improvements.

By voting “No”, you are voting not to allow the City to charge a three-eighth of one cent sales tax for every dollar spent on goods and services in Overland Park for ten years, starting in April 2024. 

The City’s existing one-eighth cent sales tax, which currently funds street and traffic improvements, expires in March of 2024 and would not be immediately replaced.

Three-eighth of a cent, and the impact this value has on our every day purchases, can be a challenging number to understand. Below, see how much the three-eighth cent sales tax would levy on the following common purchases:

A gallon of gas

Pre-tax cost: $3.12
Three-eighth cent sales tax applied: $0.01
After tax price: $3.13

Air fryer appliance

Pre-tax cost: $79
Three-eighth cent sales tax applied: $0.30
After tax price: $79.30

PlayStation 5 console

Pre-tax cost: $499
Three-eighth cent sales tax applied: $1.87
After tax price: $500.87

Sales taxes function like a user fee, meaning funding the City’s streets using a sales tax allows Overland Park residents, workers, employees and others to pay their share of street maintenance and improvements – keeping Overland Park property taxes low.

The sales tax funds necessary investments in streets and the traffic management systems in Overland Park.

These projects include:

• Thoroughfares – Improving safety and capacity of existing unimproved corridors by adding shoulders, curbs, sidewalks, roundabouts, traffic signals and where needed, additional paved lanes.
• Street improvements – Addressing safety, mobility and capacity issues on existing street and intersections by adding or replacing turn lanes, medians, street lights, traffic signals, curbs, sidewalks and more.
• Bridge infrastructure – Repairing, rehabilitating and reconstructing essential components of the City’s more than 127 bridges for safety.
• Neighborhood streets – Reconstructing residential streets that have reached the end of their useful life by replacing pavement and curbs, and adding or replacing storm sewers, sidewalks, streetlights, street trees and more.
• Traffic management – Ensuring traffic continues to move well on City streets by adding traffic lights at intersections where safety and traffic volumes call for it and replacing aging traffic lights and signs.
• Maintenance of existing infrastructure – Investing in repairs and renovation of existing City infrastructure in order to protect and extend the useful life of these important public assets.

The City of Overland Park has an impeccable track record and a long history of spending taxpayer money with integrity and only for the purposes allowed by dedicated funds.

Overland Park’s current one-eighth cent sales tax has been in place since 1998. The City of Overland Park set the standard for this funding type, advocating the State legislature to allow residents to choose to fund street improvements with a sales tax.

After Overland Park voters approved the state’s first dedicated sales tax in 1998, voters again approved it in 2003, 2008 and 2013.

The dedicated sales tax funding mechanism requires the City only spend OP Moves funding on streets and traffic management systems, as listed in the ballot language.

The City’s main budget planning documents, the Capital Improvements Program and Maintenance Plan and annual budget, clearly indicate funding sources for street and traffic projects.

Choose any project included the in the Capital Improvements Program and you can see the exact funding sources providing resources for the project.

Visit opkansas.org/CIP to dig into the financial details and see more about funding sources.

The professional engineers and technicians in the Overland Park Public Works Department have identified high-priority projects that could be funded with the revenue generated should the community approve the three-eighth cent sales tax. A few highlights of these projects include:

Thoroughfares:

• 167th Street, Antioch Road to Metcalf Avenue
• Switzer Road, 167th Street to 179th Street
• State Line Road, 175th Street to 195th Street
  

Street Improvements:

• Street and intersections improvements at 103rd Street and Antioch Road
• Street and intersection improvements at 77th Street and Metcalf Avenue
• Mini-roundabout at Hemlock Street north of 135th Street
  

Bridge Infrastructure:

• 103rd Street Bridge over Indian Creek, North Branch 
• College Boulevard Bridge over Indian Creek  
• Kenneth Road Bridge over Negro Creek
   

Neighborhood Streets:

• Wycliff, southwest of 103rd Street and Antioch Road
• Westbrooke South, east of Switzer Avenue, between 91st and 95th Street 
• Moody Hills, east of Switzer Avenue, between 91st and 95th Street
  

Traffic Management Systems:

• College Boulevard and Roe Avenue 
• 83rd Street and Nall Avenue
• 91st Street and Antioch Road
  

A typical mile of Overland Park residential street costs approximately $3.6 million to build. This graphic shows both the elements required for streets to meet engineering standards and the costs associated with each of those elements.

If the three-eighth cent sales tax is approved, there would be an immediate 18% reduction in the use of chip seal to maintain the City’s streets beginning in 2025. The City would also be able to increase its annual investment to execute a more robust and dependable infrastructure rehabilitation program. Additional funding would allow the City to perform more rehabilitation work, including mill and overlay, asphalt and concrete methods to keep streets in good condition.

If the three-eighth cent sales tax is approved, there would be an immediate 18% reduction in the use of chip seal to maintain the City’s streets in 2025.

Reducing the City’s use of chip seal requires increasing the use of other types of street maintenance, including asphalt and concrete. These types of projects are more difficult to complete in a timely manner because of limited availability of contractors and others in the supply chain. Additional funding through a higher sales tax levy would not necessarily mean the City would be able to stop using chip seal as a street preservation method.

The following table illustrates how chip seal compares to other street preservation methods in cost and expected longevity: