Ward
Capital.
Follow the money from your receipt to your block.
Every figure dated and linked. Verified June 13, 2026.
This page shows where that money comes from, who touches it, how it reaches your block, where it sits, and what it could become. Learn the route once and you can follow the money for the rest of your life.
The 1993 deal
Ward Capital was born inside a hard sell. The city wanted a sales tax for infrastructure. Voters had said no before. So a deal was struck.
City leaders pushed a sales tax to pay for infrastructure. To win over skeptical aldermen, the deal gave the Board of Aldermen control of half the money, split among the wards.
The city began collecting the tax and depositing the funds. Board members started tapping them for speed bumps, sidewalks, basketball courts, security cameras, and street repairs.
Voters passed Proposition R to cut the Board of Aldermen from 28 wards to 14, set to take effect a decade later.
The 14-ward map took effect. The board chose to keep Ward Capital split equally among the new, larger wards and to debate bigger changes later.
Ordinance 71789 reallocated the money still sitting in the 28 old ward sub-accounts after the cut. The accrued balances did not vanish. They were moved.
From your receipt to the fund
The next time you buy something in the city, look at the sales tax line. A slice of it has funded city infrastructure since the 1990s. On average it brings in about $8 million a year.
How much, and who has it
Three numbers tell the story: what comes in each year, what each ward gets, and what is sitting unspent.
The route a dollar takes
Ward Capital does not move on its own. It moves when an alderperson moves it. Walk the five steps.
Every hand on the money
No single office controls Ward Capital from start to finish. Filter by who you put in the seat and who put them there.
Four jobs on every project
R is who does the work. A is who answers for it. C is who gets asked. I is who gets told. Pick a moment and see where you fit.
The good, the bad, the ugly
It was designed to fund neighborhood infrastructure, ward by ward. Thirty years in, here is the honest scorecard.
- Local control. Your alderperson, the closest elected seat to your door, decides what your ward needs.
- It is the rare money aimed straight at a single ward, used for everyday fixes like sidewalks, parks, and dumpsters.
- It can be saved. A ward can hold its share and combine years to fund a bigger project.
- Equal is not equitable. Every ward gets the same share, even though needs are not the same.
- Nearly all of it, about 98 percent, ends up back in the hands of the Streets Department. The "choice" is narrow.
- Roads do not stop at ward lines. Splitting the money 14 ways can produce short-term, patchwork fixes.
- Millions sit idle. About $12 million was unspent across the board while streets crumbled.
- One ward sat on $1,935,003 unspent. Another was down to $5,066. The gap between blocks is enormous.
- Even a wealthy ward's full yearly share would not cover one big project. President Megan Green noted traffic calming near Tower Grove Park ran over $1 million.
From one bucket to five
Today each ward has one bucket, and the law says it can only be spent on capital improvements. Two ideas are already on the table. A third is the model this campaign proposes.
The proposed model: five buckets, one accrual engine
Keep the local control. Add fairness. Then make the money that already sits idle go to work for kids and neighborhoods.
Make the idle money work
The city already does this with other funds. Interest on the city's federal recovery money came to $1,200,000, and the budget board appropriated it by ordinance. Apply the same idea to accrued Ward Capital and move the sliders.
The terms, in language for your table
No jargon survives here. Search a word, or read them all.
What you can do this week
You do not need a title to move this money. You need the route, and you have it now.
The money is already yours.
Ward Capital comes from your receipts. It is supposed to fix the roof on your block. Right now too much of it sits while the rain comes in, and the wards that were failed the longest still wait the longest. That ends when we account for every dollar and put the idle money to work for kids and neighborhoods.
Every figure, dated and linked
Tap any "i" on the page to see the claim, the source, and the date. The full list is here. Verified against live sources on June 13, 2026.
