Lenexans to consider renewal of sales tax next spring

Published on December 04, 2024

Lenexa voters approved the 3/8-Cent Sales Tax in 2008 to fund street maintenance, park improvements and recreational opportunities. Residents will consider renewal of this tax through a special mail ballot election which they will receive mid-March 2025.

By the time the 3/8-Cent Sales Tax expires in 2028, it will have generated nearly $150 million of investment in Lenexa. Nearly 40% of Lenexa’s sales tax revenue is paid by people who live outside the city visiting Lenexa retailers.

The followed projects have been fully or partially funded through this sales tax:

• Nearly every major road and neighborhood street has been resurfaced through Lenexa’s Pavement Management Program, including new asphalt, targeted sidewalk repairs and curb and gutter replacement where needed. This program extends the useful life of streets efficiently and economically.
• Miles of new and renovated trails have filled critical gaps in the City’s trail system, providing recreational opportunities and safer routes for pedestrians and cyclists.
• The Lenexa Rec Center meets the recreational needs of Lenexans of diverse ages, interests and abilities. Popular features of the 100,000-square-foot facility include an indoor aquatic center, walking track with panoramic views, fitness facilities, two gymnasiums with drop-in activities and dozens of daily fitness classes.
• The Lenexa civic campus, including City Hall, Lenexa Public Market and a parking garage which hosts the Lenexa Farmers Market, opened in 2017. The campus is popular gathering place for the community.
• Sar-Ko-Par Aquatic Center opened in 2024 with exciting features like a water slide complex, lazy river, climbing and interactive features, and other attractions chosen through community input. 
• Ad Astra Pool is under reconstruction and will reopen in 2026. A robust community engagement process shaped the final design for the pool. 
• Nearly every piece of playground equipment in City parks will have been replaced through the Playground Replacement Program. 
• Quivira Road improvements from 75th Street to 87th Street Parkway included new turn lanes, improved pedestrian access and traffic signals, LED streetlights and replacement of deteriorated curbs, median and asphalt surface. 
• Intersection improvements at 83rd Street/Monticello Road and Prairie Star Parkway/Lone Elm Road make travel safer and easier for drivers and pedestrians. These projects in growing areas of Lenexa included new traffic signals, streetlights and improved pedestrian access. 
• Renovations to the Lenexa Old Town Activity Center currently underway are creating a dynamic campus that better serves the needs of users, the neighborhood and community.
• Freedom Fields was renovated so that both City recreation leagues and private teams can host practices and games at the complex’s four baseball/softball fields and seven multiuse sports fields for soccer, flag football and lacrosse. The tax also helped improve parking, access, landscaping and dugouts at this 25-acre park near Monticello Road and 83rd Street.
• A new Parks and Recreation Master Plan accepted in 2024 synthesized community input to provide direction on investments in the future of Parks & Recreation, including future recreational program offerings, facility construction and maintenance, new parks and park amenities and budgeting.

The ballot language for the spring 2025 vote was approved at the Dec. 3, 2024, City Council meeting. 

If the ballot measure is approved by voters, the renewed tax would begin after the original sales expires on Oct. 1, 2028. It is expected generate approximately $260 million by the time it expires in 2048 and would continue to fund street maintenance, new and improved trails and recreational opportunities.

Specific dates related to this special election are being finalized and will be shared in early 2025.

To view a map of past project funded by the current tax and learn more about the upcoming election, visit Lenexa.com/SalesTax.