Eudora ? City Administrator Mike Yanez wants the Eudora City Council to enact an excise tax on land sold for development to pay for road improvements throughout the city.

Some of the most heavily traveled streets in Eudora do not have curbs, gutters or stormwater drains. And as more people move to Eudora, Yanez said, those streets’ condition will worsen.

“Our infrastructure is carrying more traffic. Our sidewalks are carrying more pedestrians,” he said. “We welcome the new development and the new families, but we also see that our present street system is not up to standards to accommodate the heavier traffic. We’re looking at millions of dollars of new road improvements.”

In fact, making improvements to Church Street between 12th and 28th streets alone would cost an estimated $6.1 million, Yanez said.

“The only other resources to acquire funds are either from gasoline tax money shared by the state of Kansas or to do property taxes on our citizens.”

If the excise tax goes into effect, it could result in an increase in the cost of housing in Eudora.

But Yanez said it wasn’t likely an excise tax would cause developers to stop looking at Eudora as a place to build.

He said the city would examine other nearby cities’ excise taxes then choose a median number for Eudora somewhere between 5 cents and 19 cents per square foot of land sold for development.

“They’ll be discouraged, sure,” he said. “But probably not as discouraged as they would be building in another city because Eudora will be able to offer them incentives to build here.”

For example, Yanez has proposed that taxes on larger lots be discounted.

Also, developers who build roads in a subdivision would be exempt from paying taxes on the square footage consumed by the roads.

The Eudora City Council will discuss the issue at its meeting on 7:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 4 E. Seventh St.