OFFICIALS DISCUSS RENEWAL OF SALES TAX TO FUND JACKSON COUNTY'S ANTI-DRUG
EFFORTS

Efforts are under way to renew a quarter-cent sales tax that funds jackson
county's anti-drug programs.

On Thursday, the COMBAT Commission, which administers the tax, discussed a
renewal vote in August.

Some commissioners favored a speakers bureau to explain the tax, and they
suggested that recipients of COMBAT funds register voters.

Commissioner Dorothy Kennedy noted annual statistics that showed a drop
last year in the readmission rate for patients treated by COMBAT-funded
programs.

"That's something we need to tell people about when we talk about the tax,"
Kennedy said.

Commissioners said they would continue to study the issue before
recommending an election date to the County Legislature, which placed
issues on the ballot.

A tax renewal already has legislative support.

"I think the Legislature will move quickly to put it on the ballot whenever
something is presented to us," said Legislative Chairman Dennis Waits. "I
think everybody on the Legislature is in favor of doing whatever it takes
to get this going, it's just a matter of the correct timing."

In 1989, Jackson County became the first jurisdiction to have a sales tax
to fund a broad-based attack on drugs. Voters renewed the tax in 1995; the
tax expires in a year.

The tax generates between $15 million and $18 million annually for law
enforcement, drug-treatment and drug-prevention agencies.

Commission records show that the tax has helped about 150,000 students in
123 schools in Jackson County receive drug prevention training.

The tax also provides more than 4,000 drug treatment slots and pays some
positions in the Jackson County jail, prosecutor's office, Sheriff's
Department and in the Kansas City Police Department. Other COMBAT-funded
programs include drug court and fathering court.

COMBAT officials saw Tuesday's passage of levy increases in the
Independence and Hickman Mills school districts as good signs for the
anti-drug tax.

"I was so happy," said Commission Chairwoman Sue LeVota. "It shows that if
something is for the good of the community, people will pass it."