Voters know almost nothing about the Chiefs-Royals 3/8-cent tax. That’s a huge problem | Opinion

Slowly – too slowly – details surrounding the $2 billion tax proposal for the Royals and Chiefs are trickling into public view.

Just before the Jackson County Legislature agreed to put the stadiums on the April ballot, the teams signed a largely non-binding “letter of intent” that lays out a series of stadium-related commitments. Jackson Countians would own any new stadium for the Royals, for example, which the team would lease. The new ballpark will go somewhere downtown.

We’ll know exactly where by the end of February.

The Chiefs and Royals will continue to collect money from parking, signage, naming rights and concessions in any new lease agreement. The teams will “frequently acknowledge the County and taxpayers in signage and in written and video marketing materials,” which will be quite a relief to residents, I’m sure.

We also know the 3/8-cent sales tax on the April ballot isn’t really a 40-year extension, as some believed. Instead, the plan repeals the current 3/8-cent stadium sales tax that voters approved in 2006. It then authorizes a replacement tax and new borrowing to pay off the old debt while building projects for the Chiefs and Royals.

Payments on those bonds would begin this year, with the new 3/8-cent tax, and extend to 2064. It’s essentially a 33-year extension and $2 billion or more in new borrowing.

Those are weedy details, of course. But they’re important: For one thing, a shorter tax period means less from taxpayers’ pockets. It also means the county would have to move quickly this year to refinance the old borrowing or face default.

The repeal-and-replace mechanism almost certainly means less tax money for the teams’ projects, too. Refinancing old debt cuts into the funds available for construction. By some estimates, each team would have around $300 million in taxpayer-supported cash available for building once the dust settles.

That isn’t nearly enough for the Royals to build a new stadium, which the team once said will cost $1 billion. Where will the rest of the money come from?

No one knows, at least publicly. And that’s a serious problem.

The baseball club says it will make a “materially substantial private contribution” to the project. What does that even mean? Half the cost? One-third? One-tenth? Will it be an annual contribution to the mortgage, or a lump sum?

Will the state contribute? No one knows. Gov. Mike Parson made no mention of the Royals or Chiefs in his State of the State address, and no specific funds appear to be part of his 2025 budget proposal. (One Jeff City insider said this week there is “zero chance” state money will be allocated for stadiums this year.)

Will the city of Kansas City contribute? If so, how much? And how — new taxes, new borrowing or both? Whatever happened to the $1 billion ballpark development near the new stadium? That talk has withered in recent weeks. We don’t know what the city might be asked to do for that proposal.

The Chiefs are equally foggy. We don’t know how much they’ll spend, or what the state will contribute, if anything. We don’t know what they want to renovate, or when. More seats? Fewer? More suites? Wider concourses?

Crickets.

None of these questions is a deal-killer, but they are not quibbles, either. Jackson Countians need to know how much the projects cost, and who will pay those costs, before they can even begin to ponder the merits of the plan: whether a downtown stadium is a good idea, or whether this is the best way to pay for it.

It’s possible the teams are wobbly on these details because they don’t know the answers. Here’s a more cynical view: They’re hoping voters ignore the lack of facts and cast yes ballots because they like baseball, or the Chiefs reach the Super Bowl.

The teams will have help with that message. Already, organized labor and business interests are joining hands with the political community to push the tax through without any real scrutiny. When there’s $2 billion on the table, nobody likes uncomfortable questions.

Dave Helling is a former Kansas City Star reporter, columnist and editorial board member.