Kansas City voters approved authority to issue up to $1.5 billion in water and sewer revenue bonds Tuesday, clearing the way for a massive round of repairs beneath the city’s streets. The two measures passed by wide margins, even as the price tag put one of the city’s least glamorous needs squarely in the spotlight.
The two $750 million revenue bond questions received roughly 80% and 81% support, according to The Kansas City Star. Each measure needed a four-sevenths majority, or 57.14%, to pass, meaning voters gave both proposals a substantial cushion.
The bonds will not be repaid through property taxes. KC Water says the debt will be supported by water and sewer system revenues, with the money directed toward treatment-plant upgrades, aging pipeline replacement, expanded pumping capacity and rehabilitation of major mains and sewer lines, according to KC Water.
The Sewer Deadline Is Still Ticking
The sewer work is tied to a federal mandate rather than a wish list of optional improvements. Kansas City’s original consent decree was signed in 2010, and the city’s third amended plan now targets 85% capture of typical wet-weather flows by 2040 while putting the program cost through 2035 at about $2.3 billion and saying additional investment will be required beyond 2035, according to the city’s Smart Sewer program.
Kansas City entered that agreement after violations involving untreated sewage discharges, and the bond proceeds will help fund sewer-main rehabilitation, pump-station upgrades, green infrastructure and other projects needed to keep the system on track, The Kansas City Star reported.
The water side of the plan is just as expansive. KC Water is aiming to replace 28 miles of water mains each year while managing roughly $2.9 billion in capital improvement costs over the next five years, with the new authorization helping support more durable distribution infrastructure.
Voters Approved Borrowing Authority, Not An Instant Spending Spree
The vote gives KC Water permission to pursue the financing, but it does not automatically release the entire $1.5 billion. Each bond sale and the projects attached to it must still come back to the City Council for approval, according to Beacon: Kansas City; the Kansas City Election Board lists Aug. 18 as the date for formal certification of the results.
KC Water had warned that rejecting the measures would force the utility toward more expensive financing, potentially putting additional pressure on future customer rates. Mayor Quinton Lucas celebrated the outcome as evidence that his administration had built enough political capital with residents to take on a costly, complicated infrastructure agenda, with about a year remaining in his term.
