COMBAT TOPS SHORT BALLOT

A debate on whether Jackson County's unique anti-drug sales tax has
proved its merit culminates Tuesday when voters decide whether to
renew it for seven more years.

Supporters of the quarter-cent tax have campaigned vigorously in
recent weeks, publicizing statistics they say demonstrate the
usefulness of the levy - called COMBAT - in fighting drug addictions
and the trade in controlled substances since it was first established
in 1989.

"If we did not have COMBAT, it would have a devastating impact for us
in Jackson County," prosecutor Michael Sanders said at a weekend rally
of supporters.

Opponents challenge the methodology behind the statistics and the
claims that drugs are any less available on Jackson County streets
than before the adoption of the tax, formally known as the
Community-Backed Anti-Drug Tax.

Richard Charles Tolbert, a former Kansas City councilman, calls COMBAT
"a noble experiment that has failed." He is among those who criticize
the way the revenue is spent, and he contends that COMBAT's very
uniqueness after 14 years suggests that the program is flawed.

"Jackson County is still the only county in America that has adopted
an anti-drug sales tax," Tolbert wrote in a guest column on July 30 in
The Kansas City Star. "If it were such a good idea, some other county
would have adopted such a tax."

Scheduled to expire in March 2004 unless voters renew it, the tax is
expected to generate about $19.8 million this year for law
enforcement, drug prevention and drug treatment agencies.

Proponents contend that since 1991, COMBAT has closed more than 7,200
drug houses; removed more than $300 million in controlled substances
from the streets; and funded 4,300 treatment slots a year for adults
and adolescents.

They also note the results from the county's drug court, which allows
nonviolent offenders to receive treatment in lieu of prosecution. They
say 90 percent of the 1,000 graduates from drug court weren't arrested
for the five-year period that researchers tracked them.

"I'm not suggesting that with the anti-drug tax we can solve the drug
problem in the entire metropolitan area," Jackson County Executive
Katheryn Shields said. "But I think that with a very creative use of
these funds ... we have put together a program that is making this
community a better place for all of us to live."

About 80 agencies receive revenue from the tax. The COMBAT Commission
recommends the allocation to the Jackson County Legislature.

This year's plan allots 15 percent to agencies that provide drug
treatment; 13.5 percent to prevention programs, including the
schools-based Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE; 28.5 percent
to law enforcement and the prosecutor's office; and 33 percent for
programs in the court and county jail that also involve treatment. The
remaining 10 percent is used to help COMBAT agencies and others obtain
anti-drug grants.

Sanders believes the money is distributed in an ideal proportion
between law enforcement, treatment and prevention. About 60 police
officers' positions would be lost without the tax, he said.

"I think what makes COMBAT successful is all three elements working
together for the same goal," the prosecutor said. "You need law
enforcement to arrest the people who are selling drugs to our children
and running meth labs that are a danger to the community."

But critic Bob Gough, of Lee's Summit, believes too little of the
revenue is allocated to treatment and prevention. Gough heads a group
called the Jackson County Taxpayers Association, which claims about
100 members who are opposing COMBAT's renewal.

"It's used to fund the prosecutor's office, the courts and police,"
Gough told The Examiner last month. "They throw in some feel-good
stuff like prevention and treatment. That's a (public relations) thing."

Gough is also skeptical of the statistics offered by proponents,
questioning the quality of the surveys.

"I think there is not much interest in doing these evaluations,
because many of the people who conduct them have something to gain
from continuing these programs," Gough told the newspaper. "It's like
biting the hand that feeds you."