What Is the Central City Economic Development Sales Tax Board: The Full Picture (2026)

Kansas City's east side has received over $41 million in public investment since 2017 — all routed through one board most residents have never heard of.

The Central City Economic Development (CCED) Sales Tax Board is the civic body behind that investment. Understanding how it works matters whether you are a developer, a nonprofit, a small business owner, or a policymaker studying municipal economic development models.

Overview

This guide covers what the Central City Economic Development Sales Tax Board is, how it came to exist, how its funding decisions work, what types of projects get funded, and what applicants need to know before submitting a proposal.

It is written for developers, community organizations, business owners, and GTM professionals interested in how municipal economic development boards function — and how funding flows through civic infrastructure like this one.

What Is the Central City Economic Development Sales Tax Board?

The Central City Economic Development (CCED) Sales Tax Board is a Kansas City, Missouri civic body established to oversee the distribution of a dedicated sales tax fund. Its mandate: review project proposals, hold public hearings, and recommend funding decisions to the Kansas City City Council.

The board does not spend money directly. It evaluates proposals and makes recommendations. Final approval authority rests with the City Council. This two-stage process adds accountability — no project can receive funds without both board review and council vote.

The funding source is a ⅛-cent (0.125%) sales tax levied across Kansas City on taxable purchases. Every qualifying sale in the city contributes a fraction of a cent to this fund. At scale, that fraction generates approximately $10 million per year dedicated exclusively to the Central City district.

For context on how municipal economic development tools like this compare to broader B2B sales structures, see the guide to what is sales business development — the same logic of targeted investment with measurable returns applies in both civic and commercial contexts.

History and Origin

In April 2017, Kansas City voters approved the ⅛-cent sales tax by ballot measure. The vote authorized the tax for a 10-year period, running through approximately 2027.

The political case for the tax centered on Kansas City's well-documented east-west economic divide. The city's east side — historically home to its largest concentrations of Black residents, lower-income households, and disinvested neighborhoods — had seen decades of underinvestment relative to the wealthier areas to the west and south.

The CCED was designed as a targeted instrument: collect tax city-wide, spend it exclusively in the areas that had been left behind. Supporters argued this was not charity but economic correction — reinvesting in productive capacity that had been systematically underfunded.

According to the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City (EDC KC), the program has funded over 60 mixed-use projects since inception, totaling more than $41 million in direct investment.

How the Board Works

The CCED Sales Tax Board is composed of five members appointed by the Mayor and approved by the City Council. Members serve in an advisory capacity — their role is to evaluate proposals and provide recommendations, not to act as final decision-makers.

Board Meeting Structure

The board meets on a scheduled basis throughout the year. Meetings are open to the public and held at 300 Wyandotte Suite 400, Kansas City, with virtual participation available via Zoom. Meeting agendas, packets, minutes, and video recordings are maintained by the City Clerk's office through the Kansas City Legistar system.

Funding Decision Flow

The process typically runs in numbered rounds — Round 1, Round 2, and so on. As of 2026, the program has completed multiple rounds, with Round 8 of the Neighborhood Preservation RFP currently active.

Geographic Boundaries

CCED funding is strictly geographically limited. Projects outside the defined Central City district are ineligible — no exceptions.

The district's boundaries are:

• North: 9th Street
• South: Gregory Boulevard
• East: Indiana Avenue
• West: Paseo Boulevard

This area encompasses Kansas City's historic east side, including the 18th and Vine Jazz District, which has received significant investment through the program for cultural venue restoration and mixed-use development.

Before preparing any application, confirm your project address falls within these four boundaries. City planning staff can verify this, and the official CCED site includes mapping tools.

What Gets Funded

CCED funding supports projects that create jobs, grow small and minority-owned businesses, and strengthen neighborhoods. In practice, funded projects span several categories.

Funded Project Types

In 2025 alone, the board approved over $19 million for 15 projects — creating more than 400 new affordable housing units and anchoring cultural development in the 18th and Vine district. The scale of a single round illustrates both the fund's capacity and the competition for awards.

Grant vs. Loan

CCED funds can be structured as grants or loans, depending on the project type and the board's assessment. Applicants must specify which structure they are requesting and provide justification. Loan-structured awards are returned to the fund upon repayment, extending the program's reach over time.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility is defined by geography, project purpose, and applicant type. All three must be satisfied before a proposal reaches the board.

Who Can Apply

• Nonprofits and community development organizations
• Private developers with projects inside the district
• Small and minority-owned businesses
• Neighborhood groups and civic associations
• Qualified individuals with site control or option agreements

Project Requirements

• Located within the CCED district boundaries. No exceptions — projects outside the boundary are ineligible regardless of their merits.
• Site control required or preferred. Priority goes to applicants who own the site or hold an option agreement. Projects without site control carry more risk and receive lower scores.
• Must start within one year of contract execution. Funded projects that miss this deadline risk losing their award.
• Prevailing wages on projects over $75,000. All contractors and subcontractors must comply with applicable state or federal prevailing wage law.
• M/WBE participation goals. Minority- and Women-owned Business Enterprise participation targets are set for each contract based on project size and dollar amount.
• Clear community benefit. Projects must demonstrate how they create jobs, support minority-owned businesses, or strengthen the neighborhood economically.

Understanding eligibility criteria before investing significant proposal preparation time is the same discipline that drives efficient B2B pipeline qualification. See the B2B sales qualification guide for how the same principle — qualify early, invest where you fit — applies in commercial contexts.

The Application Process

CCED funding is distributed through competitive Requests for Proposals (RFPs). Each round has a defined submission window — typically several weeks — after which applications are not accepted.

Step-by-Step Application Flow

Step 1: Monitor RFP releases. The City of Kansas City publishes new RFP rounds on the official CCED program page. Round 8 of the Neighborhood Preservation RFP was active in 2026. Sign up for city notifications to avoid missing future rounds.

Step 2: Confirm district eligibility. Verify your project address falls within the four boundary streets before preparing any materials. This is a non-negotiable screen.

Step 3: Secure site control. Owned title or an option agreement on the project site significantly improves scoring. Pursue this before the application window opens if possible.

Step 4: Prepare a detailed budget. The application requires a complete project budget including all funding sources: CCED request (grant or loan), other public incentives (tax credits, Housing Choice Vouchers), private financing, and applicant equity. Specify dollar amounts for each line — not ranges.

Step 5: Complete every field. This is critical. Any question left blank automatically eliminates the proposal. If a field does not apply, enter "N/A" or "$0.00" — never leave it empty.

Step 6: Upload all required documents. Missing uploads — including blank uploaded documents — also trigger automatic disqualification. Prepare a checklist of required attachments and verify each one before submission.

Step 7: Submit before the deadline. Late submissions are not accepted. Build in a buffer of at least 48 hours to handle upload errors or platform issues.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Most unsuccessful applications fail for predictable, avoidable reasons. These are the patterns that disqualify proposals before they reach the board.

1. Blank Fields

The single most common disqualification cause. Every field requires an entry. "N/A" and "$0.00" are valid answers. An empty field is not. Treat the application like a legal document — nothing goes unanswered.

2. Missing Documents

Required attachments are enumerated in the RFP. Upload every one. Uploading a blank document — an empty PDF placeholder — counts as missing. Verify each upload actually contains the intended content before submitting.

3. No Site Control

Applications without site control (owned title or option agreement) receive lower priority scores. If you cannot demonstrate site control at submission time, your proposal competes at a disadvantage against those who can. Secure the option agreement first.

4. Vague Community Benefit Claims

"This project will benefit the community" is not a sufficient answer. The board wants specific job creation numbers, wage ranges, M/WBE participation percentages, and neighborhood impact metrics. Quantify every claim.

5. Ignoring Prevailing Wage Requirements

Applicants who budget for projects over $75,000 without accounting for prevailing wages will either under-bid on construction cost or face contract compliance issues later. Confirm your contractor can and will comply before committing to the budget figures.

6. Missing the Construction Start Deadline

Projects must start within one year of fully executed contracts. Applicants who accept awards without a realistic path to breaking ground within that window create problems for themselves and crowd out other funded projects. Only apply if your timeline is credible.

7. Submitting Without Pre-Application Research

Every round has specific priorities and focus areas. Round 8 focuses on neighborhood preservation. A strong housing rehabilitation proposal in Round 8 will score better than an identical proposal submitted in a round focused on commercial development. Read the full RFP, not just the summary.

Best Practices for Applicants

These practices separate funded proposals from the ones that clear the technical screen but fail on merit.

Attend Pre-Application Meetings

The city typically holds pre-application information sessions before each RFP deadline. These are not optional briefings — they are opportunities to ask direct questions about scoring criteria, hear what the board is prioritizing in the current round, and identify weaknesses in your proposal before submission.

Show Leveraged Funding

CCED awards are most competitive when paired with other funding sources. Applications that show CCED dollars unlocking tax credits, private debt, or other public incentives demonstrate capital efficiency. A project that needs $5 million in CCED funding but can show it leverages $15 million in total development will score significantly better than one asking for the same amount without leverage.

Build Your M/WBE Plan Before Submitting

M/WBE participation goals are set per contract. If you do not already have relationships with qualified minority- and women-owned contractors and vendors, build them before the application window. Last-minute outreach to meet M/WBE requirements produces weaker commitments and less credible plans.

Align with the Round's Focus Area

Each RFP round has stated priorities — housing, commercial development, cultural preservation, neighborhood preservation. Strong applications do not just meet minimum eligibility. They directly address the round's priorities with specific, measurable outcomes. If your project has multiple components, lead with the one that aligns most closely with the current round.

Engage the Neighborhood First

Applications that come with documented community support — letters from neighborhood associations, public meeting attendance records, resident surveys — carry more credibility in public hearings. The board holds public hearings because community voice matters. Arrive at those hearings with evidence of community engagement, not just a rendering and a budget.

Use the EDC KC as a Resource

The Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City (EDC KC) administers and supports the CCED program. They are a direct resource for applicants — available for pre-application consultations, document review, and program navigation. Use them before you submit, not after you are disqualified.

How SyncGTM Fits In

The CCED model is a useful lens for understanding how targeted economic development tools work — and why similar discipline applies to B2B go-to-market strategy.

Both require geographic or firmographic targeting. Both involve competitive application processes where incomplete or unqualified submissions waste resources. Both reward organizations that enter with research done, criteria understood, and documentation complete.

SyncGTM helps B2B sales and GTM teams apply that same discipline to revenue operations: enriching account data, identifying the right targets, and executing outreach through structured processes — not broad spray-and-pray approaches.

Teams building their GTM strategy will find related frameworks in the go-to-market strategy B2B examples guide and the B2B sales strategy framework. If you are scaling outreach with structured targeting, see how to make B2B sales for a step-by-step approach.

For economic development teams and public-sector organizations managing grant pipelines alongside business development activity, SyncGTM's free tier provides a starting point for organizing contacts, tracking outreach, and building structured pipelines without a large tooling investment.

FAQ

This post was last reviewed in May 2026.