Saturday, Nov. 07, 2009

Research Triangle tax lags behind projections

When supporters were campaigning last year for passage of a sales tax for the Johnson County Education Research Triangle, they predicted it would bring in $15 million a year.

No longer.

Ed Eilert, a county commissioner and triangle authority chairman, said the projection was revised to $14 million in January. The county began collecting the eighth-of-a-cent tax April 1.

Eilert told authority members earlier this week that based on receipts for the last seven months, the annualized revenue for the triangle projects would be $13.1 million.

The recession, he said, is impacting that revenue source.

Voters approved the sales tax a year ago to fund the construction, operations and maintenance of three facilities: The University of Kansas Edwards Campus Business, Engineering, Science and Technology Center in Overland Park; the Kansas State University Olathe Innovation Campus, and the University of Kansas Cancer Clinical Research Center in Fairway.

The triangle authority represents a unique partnership between Johnson County and the two universities to provide cancer and food safety research and animal health, engineering, business, science and technology degrees in Johnson County.

Groundbreaking for the $28 million National Institute for Animal Health and Food Safety in Olathe is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday at Valley Road and College Boulevard near Olathe Northwest High School.

The building is part of the K-State Olathe Innovation Campus, which is part of the larger Kansas Bioscience Park.

The bioscience park is expected to generate $150 million in public and private investment and create 3,000 jobs over the next 20 to 30 years.

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