JACKSON COUNTY PUSHES TO RENEW ANTI-DRUG TAX

Jackson County's anti-drug sales tax is effective, officials said Monday,
and that success will overcome the biggest potential obstacle to renewing
the tax -- the ailing economy.

"We will have a good education program, and I do believe that the voters do
see that this (tax) has been a very good thing," said Dan Tarwater, chairman
of the Jackson County Legislature's anti-drug committee.

The Community Backed Anti-Drug Tax, COMBAT, is scheduled to expire March 31.
It generates $15 million to $18 million annually for law enforcement,
drug-treatment and drug-prevention agencies.

The nine-member Legislature introduced an ordinance Monday asking voters to
renew COMBAT through March 31, 2011. A hearing on the tax ordinance is
scheduled for May 19 at the county courthouse in downtown Kansas City. After
that hearing, legislators will vote on whether to place the measure on the
Aug. 5 ballot.

County Executive Katheryn Shields spoke in favor of renewing the tax. She
said a campaign committee of community leaders would be formed to lead the
effort. Although no organized opposition has arisen, Shields said supporters
hope to raise $200,000 to $300,000, and she was optimistic that civic
leaders would financially support the effort.

"We obviously won't spend money we don't need to, but we look at this as a
very positive program for Jackson County and we want to make sure the
community has that sense," Shields said. "The strategy is to tell our story,
and I think COMBAT has a great story to tell."

In 1989, Jackson County passed its sales tax to fund a broad-based attack on
drugs. It was designed to expire in April 1997, but voters in 1995 extended
it for seven years.

COMBAT commission records show that the tax has helped deliver
drug-prevention training to about 150,000 students in 123 Jackson County
schools. The tax also provides more than 4,000 drug-treatment slots and pays
for some positions in the Jackson County jail, prosecutor's office and
sheriff's department. Other programs include drug court and fathering court,
which allow offenders to avoid jail by undergoing counseling and drug
treatment.

Critics originally said COMBAT got off to a slow start. In January 1994, an
evaluation panel said the tax funded good programs, but that the efforts
were disjointed and lacked planning.

But by 1999, independent consultants at Abt Associates were praising COMBAT
for increasing treatment for nonviolent drug users and for funding
improvements in law enforcement. However, Abt also said more research was
needed to determine how well COMBAT-funded treatment and prevention programs
actually worked.

Jim Nunnelly, the program administrator, said COMBAT now has those results
and will highlight them during the campaign.

"We have a much tighter monitoring system and individual evaluations and
reporting mechanisms for every agency," Nunnelly said. "I think initially
there was a mood that this would be entirely law enforcement. I believe the
success of this tax has been that each component has learned a lot about
each other."