Kansas City, Mo. ? Light rail plans have once again surfaced in Kansas City.

City Councilman Russ Johnson on Thursday submitted to the city an ordinance that would put a 3/8 cent light rail sales tax plan on the November ballot, the Kansas City Star reported.

The measure will go to a council committee and will involve more public debate before the council approves the actual ballot language. The first public hearing was scheduled for July 17.

The current proposal asks voters to enact the 3/8-cent sales tax for 25 years beginning April 1, 2009. A resolution with the measure also expresses the council’s desire for a light rail starter line in Kansas City.

Light rail has been a sticky issue in Kansas City, where voters approved a plan for a starter light-rail plan in November 2006. That line would have run from the zoo, through downtown to near Kansas City International Airport.

Last November, however, the City Council said the plan was unworkable and took money away from buses. Council members then overturned that plan and said they would create a new one this year.

In May, Mayor Mark Funkhouser unveiled a $1.2 billion rail-transit plan for the metro region. That plan includes five types of transit services, including light rail and modern streetcars through downtown and a commuter train service for suburbs.

Funkhouser has been calling for regional mass transit, affecting a dozen suburbs on the Missouri side of the metropolitan area.

Funkhouser has been trying to get ballot measures passed in Jackson, Clay and Platte counties for a half-cent sales tax increase that would help fund the transit system.

Funkhouser spokesman Joe Miller said Johnson’s ordinance introduced Thursday was expected.

“The city council has taken serious steps toward getting a light rail measure on the ballot,” Miller said. “But the mayor continues to push for a regional half-cent sales tax to be on the ballot this November.

“We are going to work together to create a regional transit system. The question is how and when. … There is still time to do that.”