In any county having a population of not less than sixty thousand (60,000) nor more than seventy-five thousand (75,000), the board of county commissioners may levy, for a period not to exceed two years, a tax on all taxable tangible property in such county not in excess of one-quarter (1/4) mill on each dollar of assessed valuation of such property for the purpose of creating and providing a special fund to be used for the purchase of real estate, including any buildings or structures thereon, and to make improvements on such real estate for the purpose of providing office and meeting room facilities for an extension council operating under article 6 of chapter 2 of the Kansas Statutes Annotated, and acts amendatory thereof, and to pay a portion of the principal and interest on bonds issued under the authority of Kan. Stat. Ann. § 12-1774, and amendments thereto, by cities located in the county. No levy shall be made under the provisions of this act until a resolution authorizing the making of such a levy be passed by the board of county commissioners specifying the amount to be raised each year by such levy and published for three successive issues in the official county newspaper within the county, whereupon such a levy may be made unless a petition in opposition to the same, signed by not less than ten percent (10%) of the qualified electors of such county, as determined by the vote for secretary of state in the last preceding election, is filed with the county clerk of such county within thirty (30) days following the last publication of said resolution.

In the event such petition is filed it shall be the duty of the board of county commissioners to submit the question to the voters at an election called for such purpose at the next general election.