Comments on: TIF audit released

By: Blog 2.1 » Quotas

Blog 2.1 » Quotas — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 14:19:20 +0000

[...] beaten by three men while walking with his girlfriend in Westport? Considering the rate at which the city is backing failing developers’ projects with taxes paid by KC residents, it’s easy to see why they might be more concerned with revenue. It takes a lot of cash to hand [...]

By: Bubba

Bubba — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 15:03:09 +0000

What is the significance of the nearly quarter of a billion dollars that supposedly has not yet materialized? Is this the amount that developers have yet to receive because they haven’t gotten their projects together yet?
People are not taking chances on this election. Look at the ordinances that were approved this week. Just this week the Council voted to approve several ordinances approving more TIF projects in the Plaza. Not coincidentally, Alvin Brooks voted for each one of these.

By: Sam

Sam — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 05:33:22 +0000

No matter what “Heidi” and Stephen try to say, every time I pass that corporate welfare TIF project in the plaza, I’ll be reminded to vote for whoever is going to mute such give-aways. If this city were using TIFs correctly, we’d see most of them on Troost or east of Troost. But no. Briarcliff. The Plaza. It’s disgusting.
And yeah, I’d love to see the ‘terribly flawed’ crowd discuss the METHOD rather than the conclusions. Just because they don’t like the answer doesn’t mean the methodology is flawed. But perhaps Heidi and Stephen are accountants…or city auditors. Who knows?

By: D. R. Peironnet

D. R. Peironnet — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 02:34:45 +0000

I see criticisms that the audit is “terribly flawed” but without details or specifics.

Those who are dissatisfied should explicitly identify methodological deficiencies and how those specific deficiencies have resulted in a “flawed” interpretation.

By: heidi who blogs at memyi.us, not the Eddy/Barnes Parrot going by Heidi here

heidi who blogs at memyi.us, not the Eddy/Barnes Parrot going by Heidi here — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 00:30:23 +0000

Wow, Gary White wants to be Mayor now too?

I love how the Mayor and some of Council want to bag on the Auditor (whether current or previous) on this. The Auditor reports to the Mayor and Council. So if these auditors have allegedly sucked so much — what does that tell us about the managerial skills (or lack thereof) of the said Mayor and Council? Ooops.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 21:23:11 +0000

chirp, chirp…I love how Stephen enlightens the crew and then it is radio silence. Its hard to dispute the facts, isn’t it folks?

The report is flawed, terribly flawed, because it is written by someone who wants to be Mayor. For all his promises of transparency and open government, it would have been nice if he had been forthright with the citizens of Kansas City in April of ‘06 that he would be running for Mayor on our dime. An auditor must be completely unbiased. How could he do that while planning his campaign for Mayor?

By: Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 15:32:55 +0000

Red 101 and Patrick —

Per the report, TIF projects backed by City Bonds are in the hole roughttly $7.5 million dollars (Chart on Page 11). There is no projected cumulative deficit for bonded project (same chart).

For non-bonded projects, there is no exposure to the general fund whatsoever. While reimbursements on these non-bonded (“pay as you go”) TIFs are, in fact, funded from sales, earnings and real property taxes, if the project doesn’t generate those taxes, no reimbursement is made. In other words, on pay-as-you-go TIFs, if a project doesn’t live up to its billing, it’s the developer’s budget, not the City’s, that suffers.

By: jeanne

jeanne — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 23:37:43 +0000

You’re right on,Ros. I live in the sixth district and Alvin never seems to have a clue about what’s going on out here. He rarely attends community meetings, but whenever he does he always defers to Chuck to talk about district issues. All Alvin can talk about is his experiences talking to prisoners in some jail or other.
You might also take a look at the amount those TIFs have lost. Two of them, Hickman Mills and Santa Fe, are in the sixth district.

By: Ros

Ros — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 21:17:00 +0000

It is unfortunate that Barns and Eddy have negatively impacted Brooks. Their association has lowered my opinion of his capabilities. I wonder if he just goes along,he seems like a follower rather than a leader.We all heard on the radio this morning on 710 a.m. how Eddy talks out of both sides of his mouth-praising Funkhouser one day and berrating him the next.!Good work 710a.m. Now Barnes is mad because of “BriarTIFF” before she is our of office!

By: ChrisM70

ChrisM70 — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 01:43:10 +0000

I also think that commenter #4 purposely called themselves “Heidi” to try and confuse the issue by making people think this was the comments of Heidi from http://www.memyi.us. – the person who helped get these documents released.

Let’s hope this commenter isn’t some political troller trying to poison honest debate.