Here’s what paid parking in Old Town Wichita could look like

Old Town Wichita business owners will try again to get a petition passed to establish an extra 2% sales tax to pay for parking in the area instead of asking visitors to pay when they park.

The Wichita City Council rejected setting a public hearing for a previous petition earlier this year after the city found language that would have put it in a legal grey area with the state of Kansas, which collects the tax revenue.

“It sounds great just having it on your bill, as opposed to feeding the meter,” council member Maggie Ballard, who represents the area, said. “To me, it’s the same thing, paying on your ticket or paying at the meter.”

If approved by Old Town property owners and the city council, the petition would establish a 2% Community Improvement District tax on any retail sales that the state already collects sales tax on for at least 20 years.

Non-retail businesses, like bars and offices, would see their parking rates with the city double to $15 per parking space. Any previous parking agreements would no longer be in effect if the CID is approved.

The CID petition was discussed at a neighborhood meeting Wednesday morning. Some business owners appeared to be supportive of the petition, including Worn Again Vintage owner Molly Smith.

“I want to make it as simple as possible and that’s what this plan seems like it is,” Smith told The Eagle. “We’re the ones who are down here every day. … We might as well pay that for our people.”

Owners were surprised, though, when the city disclosed that the Kansas Department of Revenue said it’s possible the CID tax would also be added to utility bills and other big purchases tied to residential addresses, including equipment and vehicles.

“There’s no magic list,” Wichita City Manager Bob Layton said. “They won’t tell us exactly what’s in and what’s out.”

“Oh God,” one business owner audibly said during the meeting.

Also at issue was whether the city would be able to get an exemption from the state to collect the extra sales tax on liquor sales from the area’s many bars and night clubs, which are now exempt due to state regulations.

“Topeka is a whole different animal. It’s just tough to get stuff like that done,” Ballard said. “I did have some conversations about it with a couple different legislators. … I think they’re open to the conversation, but that’s a little bit different than actually like getting it done.”

The city said if they’re able to begin collecting sales tax on liquor sales, they’d consider lowering the 2% percent.

“We’re not going to over collect,” Layton said.

Revenue collected as part of the extra sales tax would go toward maintaining parking in the area and security. Layton told people at the meeting that revenue generated by the CID would be the same as establishing paid parking in the area like it is in downtown.

“So, cleanliness, maintenance, security, landscaping, all of those things… that’s what the money would be used for, and it would stay within the boundaries,” Ballard said.

Parking in Old Town was at the center of the debate late last year on implementing paid parking.

The city disclosed last year it lost $13.3 million over 25 years for not enforcing parking agreements made with area business owners.

If approved by council, collection of the extra sales tax likely won’t take effect until next year.

If rejected again, parking meters and kiosks would be installed in the area to implement the paid parking plan approved by the city council last year.

“If for whatever reason, that fails, yes, our next plan will be to come in and implement the parking management system, just like we are doing downtown,” Assistant City Manager Troy Anderson said.

The city has slowly rolled out paid parking in downtown Wichita, including some on-street parking. It also recently began installing payment kiosks in some public lots downtown.

This story was originally published August 6, 2025 at 2:00 PM.