Opponents to Platte County’s proposed 20-year half cent sales tax for a 471-bed jail pitched a shutout. The tax was opposed by a majority of voters in every single voting precinct.
Results from the Platte County Board of Elections show that the sales tax question, which would have generated an estimated $408 million over 20 years and been the largest tax increase in county history, lost in all 29 precincts and also lost the absentee vote.
As reported last week, at the Tuesday, Aug. 6 vote the county’s jail tax lost with 62.4% opposed to 37.6% in favor. After the election board certified results on Friday, the final count shows 11,083 voters opposed the jail tax to 6,679 in favor.
It was a thorough thrashing, and one that left the Platte County Commissioners saying they will “go back to the drawing board” to try to come up with a proposal that voters will support.
“They got too greedy with this proposal. Too much and for too long. They didn’t do their pre-election research,” one voter commented on The Landmark’s Facebook page underneath the election results information. A lot of voters agreed.
The proposal on the ballot last week would have renovated the existing 180-bed jail and added 320 additional beds in what would have been a three-story addition on the northwest corner near the Platte County Administration Building and existing jail site.
It was the second time in the last five years that a jail tax proposal was waxed by county voters. In April of 2019, a proposal that called for a half cent jail sales tax to run for 6.25 years and raise $65 million was defeated, with 62% opposed and 38% in favor. Those are the same percentages that last week’s election showed.
As in 2024, the 2019 tax proposal also was defeated in every single precinct. The closest result by precinct in 2019 was at Weatherby Lake, where it lost 54-46%.
PRECINCT RESULTS
Last week’s jail sales tax idea lost big in all areas of the county. Voters in the northern areas of the county particularly didn’t approve.
Notable areas with strong opposition included:
Camden Point 81% opposed.
Farley 79% opposed.
Shiloh/Hoover (east of Platte City) 73% opposed.
Weston 73% opposed.
Tracy/Beverly 72% opposed.
Dearborn/New Market 71% opposed.
Platte City 70% opposed.
Edgerton/Ridgely 67% opposed.
Seven Bridges (just south of Platte City) 66% opposed.
Parkville West (Oasis Clubhouse) 64% opposed.
Park Hill North (Hwy. 9) 64% opposed.
Prairie Point (Hope Fellowship Baptist Church polling site) 64% opposed
Parkville 63% opposed.
Par 4 (Walnut Creek Clubhouse) 63% opposed.
Hampton West (Chapel Ridge area) 62% opposed.
Riverside 61% opposed.
Absentee voters were 58% opposed.
The closest precinct was the Embassy precinct (Embassy Park Clubhouse polling site), where the proposal was opposed by 51% and favored by 49%. The only other precinct where the positive vote was notable from a percentage basis was at Lake Waukomis, where 45% voted yes.
THE BOND ISSUE QUESTION ALSO FAILED
In addition to the jail sales tax question on the ballot, there also was a question from Platte County seeking voter approval to issue $85 million in general obligation bonds to construct “an improved detention center.” Under state law, general obligation bonds require 4/7th majority approval, or 57.14%, to be approved. Platte County’s question only received 53.75% approval so it failed.
Even if the bond question had received 57.14% approval the jail project would not have moved forward due to the sales tax question being defeated. The sales tax would have been needed to pay the debt service on the general obligation bonds.
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