Repair and modernize the water system with revenue bonds, funded through water rates, not property taxes.
Shall the City of Kansas City, Missouri issue waterworks revenue bonds in the principal amount of $750,000,000.00 for the purpose of rehabilitating, expanding and improving the City's waterworks system, including acquiring necessary land and rights of way, in order to provide for its continuing operation and to maintain compliance with federal, state and judicial requirements, with the principal of and interest on said revenue bonds to be payable solely from the revenues derived by the City from the operation of its waterworks system, including all future rehabilitations, improvements and expansions thereto?
Kansas City's drinking-water system is large and aging. KC Water maintains roughly 2,800 miles of water mains, a 240-million-gallon-per-day treatment plant, four major pump stations, and fourteen re-pump stations to deliver safe water to about 172,000 customers plus 34 wholesale customers. Pipes, pumps, and treatment equipment wear out, and federal and state drinking-water rules keep getting stricter. Much of this work is not optional. It is required to keep clean water coming out of the tap and to stay in compliance with federal, state, and judicial requirements.
Question 4 authorizes the City to issue up to $750 million in waterworks revenue bonds to rehabilitate, expand, and improve the drinking-water system, including acquiring land and rights of way. In plain terms, that means replacing old water mains and upgrading treatment, pumping, and distribution so service stays reliable. The bonds are repaid solely from KC Water’s own water-rate revenue. The City is legally barred from using property, sales, or earnings taxes to pay them back.
Revenue bonds are the lowest-cost money available for infrastructure that has to be rebuilt regardless of how anyone votes. City staff say the cost of these bonds is already baked into KC Water’s long-range rate plan. If voters reject them, the work still has to happen, but the utility would be forced into more expensive financing with higher interest rates, which means bigger rate increases for the same projects. This is the drinking-water companion to the sanitary-sewer revenue bonds in Question 5 and to the $750 million sewer bonds Kansas City voters already approved in 2022.
A YES on Question 4 lets KC Water borrow at the cheapest available rate to keep clean, reliable water flowing and to stay compliant with federal and state drinking-water rules, without adding a single dollar to your property tax bill. A NO does not stop the projects. It just makes them cost more and pushes water rates up faster.
Prior KC Water bond proceeds (2014 and 2022 authorizations) paid for projects such as backup generators, odor control, wastewater treatment plant upgrades, and water- and sewer-main repairs citywide, per KCUR.
KC Water's 240-million-gallon-per-day treatment plant and roughly 2,800 miles of mains are the kind of assets this authorization is meant to keep rehabilitating and upgrading.
No new tax and no tax increase. These are revenue bonds repaid only from the water rates KC Water already collects, not from property, sales, or earnings taxes, so they have no property tax impact. This is not a promise that your water bill never rises. Water rates are set separately by the City and the cost of this work is already factored into the utility rate plan. The honest framing: a YES funds work that has to happen anyway with the cheapest available borrowing, while a NO forces KC Water into pricier debt and faster rate increases.
How the financing works
Waterworks revenue bonds. Principal and interest are payable solely from the revenues KC Water derives from operating the waterworks system (water bills and fees). By law the City cannot use property, sales, or earnings tax money to repay them, so there is no property tax impact. Revenue bonds carry lower interest rates than the alternative financing KC Water would otherwise use, and city staff say the bond costs are already built into the utility long-range rate plan.
Always confirm the final wording and official question order on your authenticated sample ballot from the Kansas City Election Board.
Vote on or before August 4, 2026. Polls are open 6:00 AM to 7:00 PM.