Two-state tax package would raise $150 million

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Royals and Kansas City Chiefs would get a total of $150 million for stadium improvements under a two-state tax initiative that backers hope to place on the November ballot.

In return for the money, part of a $736 million package, the teams would sign 25-year leases.

The Kansas City Wizards of Major League Soccer, who now share Arrowhead Stadium with the Chiefs, would get $57 million to build a soccer-specific stadium and 20 youth soccer fields in suburban Johnson County, Kan.

Today, a citizen petition process will begin in Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas to place the one-eighth-cent sales tax on November ballots. Bistate leaders intend to ask officials in Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri to put the tax on their November ballots.

The new tax is dubbed Bistate II because it would replace a similar tax approved in 1996 for the renovation of Union Station. This time, though, chamber leaders hope to aid several organizations.

Besides the Royals, Chiefs and Wizards, the package includes $40 million to help build a proposed downtown performing arts center and $67 million to aid regional cultural attractions such as the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Kansas City Symphony, Starlight Theatre, the 18th and Vine jazz and Negro Leagues museum complex and Johnson County's Theatre in the Park.

To take effect, the bistate tax must pass in at least Jackson and Johnson counties. Assuming it passes in all five counties, the levy is estimated to cost about $20 a year per person.

"Bistate II is what we think will keep this town major league," said Steve Rose, one of the chamber board members leading the bistate effort.