At its most recent meeting, the Wichita City Council approved a ballot measure that would put a 1% sales tax on the ballot in a special election on March 3, 2026. That would be in addition to the current 1% local sales tax and the 6.5% state sales tax.
The complex sales tax question is deliberately scheduled on a date where voter turnout will likely be low. It is predicted to raise about $850 million over seven years.
The question reads: “Shall the following be adopted?
Shall the City of Wichita, Kansas, be authorized, pursuant to K.S.A. 12-187 et seq., to impose a one percent (1.0%) city-wide retailers’ sales tax to be effective July 1, 2026, and which will terminate no later than June 30, 2033, the revenues derived therefrom to be applied as follows?
- An amount not to exceed $225 million dollars of such tax applied to Public Safety costs for support of City police and fire facility construction and maintenance, the acquisition of vehicles, apparatus and equipment and other purposes related to providing Police and Fire Services for the City;
- An amount not to exceed $250 million dollars of such tax applied to pay the costs for Revitalization of Century II (not to exceed $25 Million) and Upgraded and Expanded Convention Center Improvements (not to exceed $225 Million);
- An amount not to exceed $150 million dollars of such tax applied for Property Tax Relief;
- An amount not to exceed $150 million dollars of such tax applied to establish a restricted-special fund, with earnings from such fund to be reinvested into this special fund, to support Homeless and Housing Services by funding affordable housing projects and programs, shelter facilities, a multi-agency center and its operations and related services for people experiencing homelessness; and
- An amount not to exceed $75 million dollars of such tax applied for development and construction of a new Downtown Public Performing Arts Center.
The phrase “not to exceed” is key, because the ballot language does not require the city to spend, say, a full $225 million on “public safety,” or $150 million on property tax relief. It may also allow the city to spend the money on other things; it says the money will be “applied as follows” to specific projects, but it doesn’t say that money cannot be used for anything else.
In a recent editorial at the Kansas Policy Institute, which owns The Sentinel, KPI CEO Dave Trabert said the promised property tax relief is a “non-starter.”
“It looks good on paper, but it won’t happen,” Trabert wrote. “The State Legislature gave money to cities and counties for theoretical property tax relief with its Local Ad Valorem Tax Reduction program. The Legislature last funded it in 2003, when the average county tax increase was 7.6%. LAVTR merely gave local officials more to spend. Without LAVTR, county property taxes averaged a 3.8% increase over the last five years.”
Trabert said the problem is, like most cities and other government entities, Wichita does not have “a real, taxpayer-focused budget process. The staff proposes more spending and higher taxes, and elected officials approve it without much change or taxpayer-focused analysis.”
“The process should start with elected officials giving direction to the City Manager, like, ‘Present us with a budget that does not raise taxes and doesn’t cut a service, unless you believe the service is no longer necessary.’ Trabert said. “Elected officials should also require a robust, annual performance-based budget process to ensure that necessary services are provided efficiently and effectively.”
Trabert noted that, with Wichita recently hiring a new city manager, now is the perfect time for the city to forge a taxpayer-centered budget that would reduce costs and free up spending for some of the proposed projects or reduce property taxes.
Spending reallocation should be a priority before raising sales tax
Pay and benefits increased 79% for Wichita city employees since 2012, which is double the rate of inflation. 
“The argument for outsized increases in pay and benefits is that government needs to be competitive with the private workforce, but City Council shouldn’t place an undue burden on taxpayers. Unfortunately, that’s what took place, with a 73% increase in General Fund property taxes,” Trabert wrote. “Unaffordable tax increases are the result of not having a real budget process.”
He noted that Wichita has “unnecessarily high cash reserves – another hallmark of not having a taxpayer-focused budget process.”
“The ending General Fund cash reserve in 2012 was a little over $23 million, which was 11% of expenditures,” Trabert wrote. If City Council had increased spending by inflation and maintained an 11% reserve, it would be $32 million at the end of 2026. Instead, council members approved an ending balance of almost $50 million.”
Trabert also noted that the process was rushed, with the initial proposal being presented on Nov. 25 — two days before Thanksgiving — discussed Dec. 9 and voted on just this week.
“A one-cent sales tax may not sound like a lot, but it would double the current local sales tax that Wichitans pay, and as many elected officials reminded us when they wanted to eliminate the state sales tax on food, sales tax hurts lower-income families the most.”
