Jackson County voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to renew a quarter-cent sales tax that has funded drug enforcement, addiction treatment and violence-prevention programs since 1989. Question 1 would continue the Community Backed Anti-Crime Tax, known as COMBAT, for another 10 years before its current authorization expires March 31, 2027, according to KSHB 41.
What voters are deciding
The proposal would keep the tax at its existing rate rather than raise it. Revenue would continue going into a special Anti-Crime Sales Tax Trust Fund separate from Jackson County's general fund and other county accounts, with spending directed toward prevention, investigation, prosecution and detention involving violent crime and drug offenses, KSHB 41 reported.
The tax generates about $31 million annually. Its funding supports the Jackson County Drug Task Force, addiction-treatment providers, violence-prevention programs and domestic-violence services. COMBAT says more than 100 prevention and treatment programs operated at more than 400 locations and were projected to serve nearly 100,000 residents in 2025.
A tax created for a drug crisis
Jackson County created COMBAT during the late-1980s drug and drug-related-crime crisis. The program's stated design combined enforcement with treatment and prevention instead of relying only on policing and incarceration, according to Jackson County COMBAT's history.
The county later broadened the program. Voters expanded COMBAT in 2009 to fund general anti-violence initiatives, and the STRiVIN' initiative began in 2015 to connect at-risk residents with housing and employment services through referrals from law enforcement, schools and health-care providers, according to the agency.
The enforcement and treatment roles
More than 90% of the Jackson County Drug Task Force's operating budget comes from COMBAT, according to reporting cited in a Hoodline report. The task force combines narcotics detectives from 12 local police departments. KSHB 41 reported that it had seized 48,000 grams of fentanyl over the preceding five years.
COMBAT also supports treatment organizations, including First Call, and programs focused on prevention and domestic violence. The mix reflects the tax's expanded mission: funding both direct enforcement and services intended to address substance use and violence before or after criminal cases reach court.
A history of voter approval
The tax has previously won voter support. Jackson County voters first approved it in 1989 and have renewed it four times. In the most recent renewal, in 2016, the measure received 73.17% support, according to Jackson County COMBAT. That result provides historical context, but it does not establish how voters will view the 2026 proposal.
What remains at issue
The November question is a renewal, not an expansion of the tax rate. The ballot will determine whether the existing funding stream continues beyond March 2027; it will not by itself resolve broader questions about how voters weigh the tax's public-safety benefits, treatment role and oversight. COMBAT is preparing for the vote under incoming executive director Murray Woodard, who was scheduled to begin in September.
