As a conservative Republican who often opposes tax increases, Sen. Karin Brownlee agrees she might seem an unlikely choice to co-chair an effort to persuade voters to approve the so-called Research Triangle Tax in Johnson County.

But Brownlee said her aversion to taxes was trumped by the economic and health benefits that will come with the construction of a new Kansas State University campus in Olathe, and with improvements to the KU Edwards Campus and the KU Cancer Center in Westwood.

While she has heard some criticism from conservatives, she said she was surprised but heartened by an informal vote during the annual Republican Party picnic in Olathe. “This is a pretty conservative group, and they voted something like 110 to 10 in favor of the Research Triangle Tax,” Brownlee said.

She said she was at first reluctant to co-chair the effort, and that it took weeks of contemplation before she finally said yes. One concern was whether sales tax proceeds would be used for embryonic stem cell research or human cloning, which she opposes, but she said she was assured that no such research would be conducted.

Rep. Lance Kinzer, a fellow conservative who represents part of Olathe in the Kansas House, agrees that the research triangle initiative will bring significant benefits to Johnson County and the State of Kansas. But, he’s not persuaded that already over-burdened taxpayers should help foot the bill.

“I don’t doubt that there will be good outcomes,” Kinzer said. “I just question whether it’s appropriate to reach into the pockets of taxpayers to pay for something that’s not a core function of government.”

He added that the financing of higher education is typically a state obligation, and questioned whether it was appropriate for the county to assume part of that responsibility, possibly at the expense of local needs, such as road construction and law enforcement.

Johnson County voters, who just approved a permanent quarter cent sales tax increase in August to fund a new jail, crime lab and other public safety initiatives, will determine the fate of the eighth-cent Research Triangle tax in November. If approved by voters, the tax would yield an estimated $15 million a year to be equally divided between the KU Edwards Campus, the KU Cancer Center and the KSU Innovation Campus in Olathe.

Brownlee said the bill that authorized Johnson County to seek additional sales tax authority contained a provision that would allow voters to place a question on a future ballot to repeal the tax. If no such effort is undertaken, the tax increase would be permanent.

Proceeds would be used to accelerate construction of the KSU campus, which will anchor a 92-acre bioscience business park that will be administered by the Kansas Bioscience Authority. Infrastructure for the bioscience park, which will also be home to the world headquarters of Fort Dodge Animal Health, already is under construction.

Proceeds also will finance construction of a fourth building at the KU Edwards campus to offer degree programs in engineering, science and math, and to construct a new building adjacent to the former Sprint headquarters in Westwood that will be occupied by a KU clinical research center.

Brownlee said the Johnson County Research Institute has estimated that the new and expanded programs funded by the tax would have a cumulative economic impact of about $1.4 billion from 2009 through 2028.

“When you look at it from that angle, you could say the tax will pay for itself over time,” Brownlee said.

Olathe, she added, anticipates that the bioscience park will yield about $2.4 million in annual property taxes after abatements expire in 10 years.

But the initiative also will provide benefits that are other than economic, Brownlee said.

For example, she said KU would be offering clinical trials in which new cancer treatments can be tested at its new Westwood facility. Some of the experimental treatments could come from the KU School of Pharmacy, one of the top three pharmacy schools in the country.

“Of the drugs used to treat cancer, one third have been developed at the KU School of Pharmacy,” Brownlee said.

In addition, new science and engineering degree programs are sorely needed, she said, particularly in the Kansas City market, which has become a hub for engineering firms.

“Black & Veatch can’t hire enough engineers,” she said. She added that in India and China, fully credentialed engineers typically work for about $650 a year, and they’re eyeing opportunities in the U.S.

“The fact that they’re looking this way should give pause to our engineers,” she said.

The new KSU Innovation Campus will offer post-graduate programs related to animal health and food safety, and will provide a workforce for the dozens of animal health firms that are already located in the so-called Animal Health Corridor in Kansas City, and for new firms that will be incubated at the Kansas Bioscience Park.

According to the Kansas BioScience Organization, 37 animal health companies, including Fort Dodge and Bayer Animal Health, have their world headquarters in Kansas City. Those headquarters, as well as approximately 90 other animal health companies in the area, employ 13,000 animal health specialists.

Kinzer pointed out that the KSU campus was already on the drawing board before the Research Triangle tax was proposed.

“K-State had already worked out with the city a very exciting proposal to bring a Regents Institution to Olathe, without any anticipation that they would be the recipients of this sales tax money,” Kinzer said. “They were fully prepared to go forth before this tax was ever proposed.”

Kinzer said given all the opportunities and benefits, it was reasonable to question whether the improvements to the Regents institutions would eventually happen, even without a new revenue stream provided by Johnson County taxpayers.

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