Topeka defers action on proposed sales tax hikes to aid development

Topeka’s mayor and city council postponed action late Tuesday on two proposals that would enable developers to assess customers an additional 1 percent sales tax at each of two shopping centers along S.W. Wanamaker Road.

Mayor Michelle De La Isla and the nine council members first voted 10-0 to defer action until their May 7 meeting on one proposal that would establish a community improvement district.

That CID would levy a 1 percent sales tax — in addition to the sales taxes they already pay — upon customers at retail properties at the southeast corner of S.W. 17th and Wanamaker Road owned by Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Equity Investment Group Wanamaker, LLC. Those buildings include a former K mart at 1740 S.W. Wanamaker.

The revenues would be used over 22 years to reimburse investment in a proposed $31.4 million project to redevelop that property.

The mayor and council then voted 10-0 to postpone action until their June 18 meeting on a proposal that would establish another CID.