DALLAS - After months of legal battles, the Topeka City Council voted down a proposal to issue more than $5 million of state-authorized sales tax and revenue bonds to buy a struggling automotive racetrack.
With $10.8 million of STAR bonds already outstanding for improvements to the track, the city decided to cut its losses rather than invest another $4.8 to $5.5 million to buy the facility outright.
"I want a racetrack in Topeka," council member Jonathan Schumm said, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal. "I simply do not want a racetrack owned by Topeka."
The 6-4 vote opposing the purchase came after a petition drive by citizens calling for a public vote on the issue. The city challenged the validity of the petition in a legal battle that went all the way to the state Supreme Court.
Two council members who voted in favor of the purchase in 2014 lost their seats in the April 7 election. Two other incumbents who voted for the track did not seek re-election, leading to a nine-member council with four new members.
"I polled my own district and it came back three-to-one against," council member Elaine Schwartz said, according to the Capital-Journal.
The council voted in 2006 to issue $10.46 million in STAR bonds to finance improvements at Heartland Park, which was managed by private operators. Though plans called for those bonds to be paid off using sales tax revenue from the track, city sales tax revenues consistently fell short.
On Aug. 8, the council voted 9-1 to buy the Heartland Park Topeka racing facility and expand its tax-increment finance district. Council members since then approved several measures related to the measure. The May 5 decision to reject the purchase was the first negative vote.
Despite uncertainty over its next owner, Heartland Park Topeka has announced it still plans its biggest event of the year, the National Hot Rod Association Kansas Nationals May 22-24. The track, which opened in 1988, has hosted the NHRA for the past 26 years.
Sales tax and revenue bonds, authorized by the Kansas Legislature, allow cities and counties to finance sports facilities that draw visitors from the region. Kansas City, Kan., used STAR bonds to build the Kansas Speedway in 2001.
