The Unified Government’s Public Works and Safety Standing Committee voted unanimously Monday evening to send proposed rate increases for sanitary sewer, stormwater, and solid waste utilities to the full Board of Commissioners, while also receiving updates on a plan to pursue millions of dollars in federal funding to improve the county’s most dangerous intersections.
The standing committee includes commissioners Andrew Kump (chair, At-large District 2), Bill Burns (District 2), Christian Ramirez (District 3), Evelyn Hill (District 4), and Phil Lopez (District 6). Commissioners Hill and Lopez attended remotely.
Vision Zero targets the county’s most dangerous roads
Staff from the Public Works and Planning departments, along with consultant Anthony Gallo, presented an update on the UG’s Vision Zero Action Plan, which is a federally supported strategy to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries.
The plan, developed with a 2023 planning grant from the federal Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program, has identified roughly 25 high-priority locations for safety improvements through a scoring process. UG staff are now narrowing that list to approximately five sites to include in a competitive implementation grant application.
Sarah Shafer, senior engineer with Public Works, told the committee that average SS4A awards have been about $10 million, with a maximum of $25 million. “It does require a 20% match, but we want to remind you that we do have Build Kansas fund and we anticipate utilizing them for the 20% match,” Shafer said.
The plan must be formally adopted and posted online before the grant application can be submitted, with staff targeting adoption by early June. Gallo noted that each of the recommended catalyst locations has a history of fatal or serious injury crashes, a requirement for competitiveness in the SS4A program.
Ramirez expressed enthusiasm about one site in particular. “I am happy that 7th and Southwest Boulevard not only made it to the short list but the catalyst projects,” he said, describing the intersection as “absolutely horrid” during peak commuting hours.
Burns flagged concerns about the 18th Street corridor near I-70, citing confusing signage and a weedy area that blocks drivers’ sightlines. “By the time you get over, you better get over to the right really quick because I-70 comes right on top of you,” he said, urging staff to prioritize the location.
The most dangerous roads proposed as sites for the grant application are:
Parallel Pkwy from 64th Terr. to 67th St. (KCK): The area has seen three serious or fatal accidents in the past ten years. A project to close the slip lane, consolidate driveways, and improve lighting is proposed to reduce the potential for future serious accidents.
Rainbow Blvd/7th St & Southwest Blvd. Intersection (KCK): The intersection has had seven serious accidents, with $97.2 million in related costs. A proposed project would add signal backplates and street lighting and provide high-visibility crosswalks with an improved pedestrian signal.
18th St. from Ridge Ave. to I-70 (KCK): This stretch just to the north of I-70 past the Prescott Plaza shopping area in the past has seen five serious or fatal accidents. A remediation project would improve center-line and lane markings and add street lighting.
Front St. from Kaw Drive to Stillwell Rd. (Bonner Springs): This stretch of road, going west from downtown Bonner Springs, has seen three serious or fatal accidents. The proposed improvements would reconfigure and reallocate lanes.
K-32 and South 98th St. (Edwardsville): This intersection has seen seven serious accidents, with $33.9 million in crash-related costs over 10 years. A proposed project would add access control to the intersection and potentially a signal. An accommodation for bikes and pedestrians crossing K-32 would also be added.
Utility rates: Three tiers of service, tough choices ahead
The bulk of the meeting was devoted to a detailed presentation on proposed rate options for the county’s three utility funds (sewer, stormwater, and solid waste) for the remainder of 2026 and into 2027. Troy Shaw, the county’s public works director, explained that the department pulled utility rate discussions out of the annual budget process to give commissioners more focused time to deliberate.
For each utility, staff members presented three tiers of service: “required” (bare-minimum regulatory compliance), “responsible” (reliable maintenance and planning), and “resilient” (future-proofing for growth and climate change).
On the sanitary sewer side, the stakes are particularly high. The utility operates under a federal consent decree from the Environmental Protection Agency, and Shaw told the committee that the current rate structure (a 4% annual increase approved for 2026) does not bring the system into compliance.
“It’s basically was created because years ago they said your utility is not operating the way it should,” Shaw explained of the consent decree. “The EPA and Department of Justice came in and said, ‘Thou shalt do this.'”
Ramirez confirmed the gravity of the situation: “If we continue with scenario A, we technically do not meet the consent decree. Is that correct?” Shafer replied, “Yes, you are correct.”
Shafer added that non-compliance penalties under the consent decree can reach up to $5,000 per day per violation.
The “responsible” scenario for sewer would add a 1 percent rate increase effective May 1 (approximately 56 cents per month for the average household), followed by a 7 percent increase in 2027 (about $3.97 per month). That option would fund consent decree compliance and increase the system’s debt authority to $140 million.
For stormwater, the department noted that the utility has only operated under an updated rate structure for about three years, and historically received just $3 million a year for the entire community. “We have not been operating in a responsible fashion historically,” Shaw acknowledged. When Hill asked about the cost of pipe rehabilitation, Shaw said individual projects could range wildly, “anywhere from could be something $20,000 to repair it or it could be $2 million to repair it.”
On the question of how much it would cost to reach a fully “responsible” budget, Shafer told the committee that when staff last assessed the system’s needs in 2019–2020, the price tag was roughly half a billion dollars just to address existing deficiencies. “We knew that our community is going to take a while to get to this space where we are being proactive and we are being prepared,” she said.
The solid waste discussion introduced an equity dimension. Shaw explained that KCK residents currently subsidize services like illegal dumping cleanup, graffiti removal, and facility trash collection to the tune of about $1.11 per month on each household’s bill — roughly $669 thousand annually.
All three rate items were forwarded to the full commission on 5–0 votes, each explicitly with no recommendation from the committee. Ramirez set the tone for that approach: “I don’t want to propose anything at the moment. I think this should be presented to the full commission for the whole body to have that discussion.”
MARC Grant Applications
In a brief final item, Shaw informed the committee that the Public Works Department plans to submit applications for grants through the Mid-America Regional Council, the Kansas City area’s regional planning organization. MARC released the grant opportunity with only about three weeks’ notice, leaving insufficient time for the normal commission-approval process.
Shaw said the grants, which fund projects in 2029 and 2030 with an 80/20 match requirement, would only be formally accepted if awarded and approved by the commission. “If we come back and it doesn’t fit for us financially, we don’t have to accept the grant,” he assured the committee.
The meeting adjourned after roughly one hour with no items from the public agenda and no public comments on any item.