Merriam could ask voters to approve a new sales tax to help pay for a downtown overhaul that would lift the area out of the Turkey Creek floodplain, a project estimated to cost between $196 million and $299 million.

The Merriam City Council and Planning Commission discussed three potential tax rates at a joint work session Monday, Oct. 26, according to Fox 4. No vote was taken.

The options: a quarter-cent, three-eighths-cent or half-cent increase on sales. On a $100 purchase, shoppers would pay an extra 25 cents, 38 cents or 50 cents, respectively, the Johnson County Post reported after an earlier Oct. 12 council presentation by City Administrator Chris Engel.

Engel told the council at that Oct. 12 meeting that the three rates would generate roughly $2.6 million, $3.9 million or $5.2 million per year. None of the options would fully fund the project, he said.

Mayor Bob Pape told Fox 4 the goal is removing downtown from the floodplain so it can be rebuilt. "Currently, with the federal statutes, you cannot develop in a floodplain," Pape said. "So in order to make any drastic changes, we've got to elevate the ground level in order to build new buildings potentially down there."

Much of downtown Merriam sits within a FEMA-designated floodplain, according to the city's website. Turkey Creek has flooded repeatedly, with major events in 1977, 1993, 1998, 2017 and 2025. The creek can rise from normal to flood stage in less than three hours.

A 25-member steering committee recommended the most ambitious of three master plan visions. That option would remove the entire downtown core from the regulatory floodplain and create a walkable main street with more than 250 homes, shops and restaurants, the Johnson County Post reported. Two cheaper alternatives were estimated at $122 million and $20 million, but the least expensive includes no flood protection.

Engel said most revenue from a new sales tax would come from nonresidents who shop in Merriam. He noted the city has the highest retail "pull factor" in Kansas, driven by car dealerships along Interstate 35 and the metro area's only Ikea store.

Two existing sales taxes are set to expire at the end of 2027: one funding the Merriam Community Center and a countywide public safety tax. Timing a new downtown tax to start Jan. 1, 2028, would mean "minimal impact" for shoppers, Engel said.

In past surveys for the downtown master plan, 80% of residents said they support using sales taxes to pay for downtown changes, Engel told the council Oct. 12.

Not everyone agrees. Billy Croan, a Merriam resident, told Fox 4 he opposes more development, saying he does not want apartment towers or a thousand more cars on local roads.

The city has stressed that no decisions have been made requiring any business or property owner to change or relocate. The downtown master plan is a long-term vision, not a finalized redevelopment plan, according to a city statement in September.

The council could consider a resolution in November to place the proposal before voters in a special mail-in election in March 2027. If approved, the new sales tax could take effect Jan. 1, 2028.