The Olathe City Council will vote on a key piece of the Kansas City Chiefs' plan to build a $300 million practice facility and corporate headquarters in the city at its meeting this Tuesday — but not before residents get a chance to weigh in.
The city council is holding a public hearing at the beginning of its meeting, followed by a scheduled vote by council members on whether to pledge local tax revenue to help finance Sales Tax and Revenue (STAR) bonds that will fund a new Chiefs training facility and headquarters in western Olathe.
STAR bonds are a financing tool that uses state sales tax revenues generated by a project to pay for developments. As part of the proposed STAR bond district, the Chiefs also plan to build a $3 billion domed stadium in Kansas City, Kansas.
The state's proposed STAR bond district covers not only Olathe but also all of Shawnee and Lenexa and almost all of Wyandotte County,= as well.
Kansas legislative leaders approved the use of state sales tax within the STAR bond district on Dec. 22.
Location of proposed training facility revealed
City documents confirmed the training facility and headquarters will be located at College and Ridgeview, just off Kansas Highway 10 in western Olathe — a site that has been heavily speculated about for months.
The project site sits just south of the Garmin Olathe Soccer Complex.
The Olathe portion of the relocation is estimated to cost almost $1 billion. (The stadium will be built in Wyandotte County.)
Public dollars will fund 60% of the development, and the team will cover the remaining 40%.
If approved, the city would pledge certain local tax revenues generated within the proposed 165-acre development site, the "Base Revenue Area," at College and Ridgeview.
Local sales taxes generated in the rest of the city would not go toward the development, though as part of the state's larger STAR bond district, a portion of state sales taxes generated in the city could still be funneled to the project.
Terms of the tax incentives
The ordinance sets the base revenue at $0, meaning any new eligible tax revenue generated at the site at College and Ridgeview would go toward repaying the STAR bonds.
For up to 30 years, Olathe would pledge the following new revenues to the STAR bond district:
- 1% of city sales and use taxes generated within the development area.
- The city's share of Johnson County sales tax (currently 17.63%) that is generated from the area.
- 7% of the city's hotel tax that is generated within the area.
The city's street maintenance and parks sales taxes would be excluded from the pledge, as well as any potential retail sales taxes or use taxes approved by voters. Any special taxing districts in the future would also be excluded, such as community improvement districts or tax increment financing districts.
The Chiefs' facility must be built and bonds must be issued by Dec. 31, 2030, for the pledge to take effect, according to the ordinance.
The ordinance also says the bonds would not be considered a city debt, and Olathe would not have to raise taxes or allocate money in its budget to repay them.
The city had 60 days after the state's Dec. 22 approval to hold a public hearing and vote on whether to participate in the STAR bond project.
What happens next
Anyone interested in giving public comment can sign up by calling the city clerk's office at 913-971-8521 or emailing CCO@olatheKs.gov by 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
You can also sign up in person up to 30 minutes before the start of the meeting. Each speaker will be given five minutes.
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at Olathe City Hall.
This story was first published by the Johnson County Post.
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