MEDIA ADVISORY • COMBAT 30TH ANNIVERSARY PRESENTATION TODAY
Jackson County Legislature To Present COMBAT 30th Anniversary Resolution:
Monday, April 24, 2023 at 3:00 p.m.
Jackson County Courthouse
2nd Floor Legislative Chamber
415 E. 12th Street, Kansas City, MO 64106
Media Availability Following Presentation:
• Jean Peters Baker, Jackson County Prosecutor
• Vince Ortega, COMBAT Executive Director
• Branden Mims, Greater Impact Executive Director
& AdHoc Group Against Crime Chief Operating Officer
MEDIA MEMBERS attending this afternoon's presentation please notify COMBAT Communications Administrator Joe Loudon, if possible, in advance at jloudonjacksongov.org or 816-682-5783.
Resolution Marks 30th Anniversary Of COMBAT Anti-Crime Program That Has Become 'Essential' To Serving Jackson County
The Jackson County Legislature will recognize the 30th anniversary of COMBAT with the presentation of a special resolution this afternoon. Donna Peyton, 2nd District At-Large Legislator and chair of the Legislature’s Anti-crime Committee, will be introducing the resolution.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker and COMBAT Executive Director Vince Ortega will be present to receive the resolution, and they will be available afterward for the media. One of COMBAT's first administrators, Jim Nunnelly, and former COMBAT Executive Director Stacey Daniels Young will be present and recognized for their past efforts.
Serving Tens Of Thousands Each Year
Jackson County became the first jurisdiction in the nation to adopt a tax dedicated to reducing drug abuse and drug-related crime. The county’s voters first approved the tax in 1989, and they have since renewed it four times, mostly recently in 2016—with overwhelming 73.17% support.
In the spring of 1993 Nunnelley was appointed administrator, and the sales tax was officially named COMBAT (Community Backed Anti-drug Tax). A 2009 renewal vote also expanded COMBAT's mission to include violence prevention, with COMBAT becoming an anti-crime tax. (A comprehensive history of COMBAT was recently published on the program’s website: jacksoncountycombat.com/history.)
Today, the quarter-cent COMBAT sales tax generates about $30 million in revenue per year. In addition to providing crucial funding for local law enforcement agencies and the courts, COMBAT awards annual grants for nearly 100 prevention and treatment programs. These COMBAT-supported programs serve tens of thousands of men, women and children throughout Jackson County each year.
'Shifted The Paradigm Of The So-Called War On Drugs'
“COMBAT has really become essential to better serving our community,” says Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker. “COMBAT provides us resources not available in other counties our size, nearly all of which are struggling with illicit drugs and violence. Due to COMBAT we have more resources for helping crime survivors, for getting more people into substance use disorder treatment and for reaching more kids through a variety of innovative prevention programs.
“And, yes, we have more resources for enforcement. But since the beginning COMBAT has been a recognition of a basic fact: we can’t arrest our way out of these problems.”
The Legislative resolution notes, in part, “COMBAT has for 30 years shifted the paradigm of the so-called ‘War On Drugs,’ from doing more than just fighting drugs and crime, to also helping people.”
The day-to-day operations of COMBAT fall under the supervision of the Jackson County Prosecutor.
CONTACT:
Joe Loudon
COMBAT Communications Administrator
jloudon@jacksongov.org
Cell: (816) 682-5783
Office: (816) 881-4337
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