Apr

21

TIF Audit, Part Deux

April 21, 2007 | 4 Comments

Just as the uproar over the TIF audit seems to have died down a bit and Mayor Barnes’ panties seemed to have untwisted, a new assessment of the city’s economic development incentives has been released.  This one comes from outside consultants hired by the city, yet it essentially confirms virtually all of the criticisms in the internal audit.

The gist is that the city is giving away far too much with far too little oversight and far too little analysis of the impact on the city’s long term financial health.  So we now have a situation where developers have been conditioned to expect subsidies all the time.

“Rather than being viewed as a mechanism to correct a market failure, incentives are seen as an entitlement that should be granted in each and every case,” consultants for the city concluded.”

The funny thing is that the consultant’s report closely resembles the policy that Mayor-elect Funkhouser campaigned on… First create an overall economic development plan, then evaluate subsidy requests on three criteria: 1) Does it fit the plan, and 2) Does it provide a net financial gain for the city, or 3) if isn’t a get gain does it address a social justice issue like poverty or distressed neighborhoods.

Categories: City Council, KC Mayor, Politics


Comments

4 Comments so far

  1. Brent on April 22, 2007 1:22 pm

    I wonder how many of my tax dollars went to fund a consultant to say exactly what our internal auditor had been saying for years.

  2. Larry T on April 22, 2007 5:20 pm

    Don’t know will have to form a fact finding committee and get back with you.

  3. politipal on April 23, 2007 4:29 pm

    But which candidate said this:

    General Plan

    I will initiate a comprehensive development plan for Kansas City. Many agencies and groups have development plans for parts of the city, but we lack a consolidated comprehensive plan. This plan will map out redevelopment and new development so that growth is managed in a way that allows city to maintain a high level of service to its residents. A general plan also will help ensure neighborhood priorities are met before those of developers. The city’s too often ignored FOCUS plans can provide the starting point for the general plan.

    Tax Incentive Reforms

    Tax incentives are important economic development tools, but they have not always been used properly. The city needs to stop chasing after developers’ projects and use tax incentives to promote our own priorities. It is now time for us to target future incentives toward areas that have not shared in the current boom and to finish some projects that have languished.

    1. Tax Incentive Use Policy – My administration will develop a written policy that the TIF Commission and city must follow when awarding tax incentives for development. The tax incentive use policy will ensure that city incentives fit within the general plan, are only used on projects that remedy blight or fulfill a specific economic need of the city, and, when appropriate, are leveraged with federal and state tax incentives. It will be developed with citywide input and require that all projects be independently reviewed before they can receive financing. An independent review will ensure that tax incentives, including TIF, follow that policy and are only used on projects that remedy blight or fulfill a specific economic need of the city.

    2. Super Majority to Override TIF Commission – It is too easy for the city council to ignore the recommendations of the TIF Commission. If the TIF Commission does not recommend a project for incentives, it only takes a simple majority of the council to override their recommendation. As mayor, I will appoint members to the TIF Commission who will use incentives for neighborhood priorities, and I will call for a charter amendment that requires a city council vote of 2/3 to override a TIF Commission recommendation to deny incentives to a development plan.

    3. Small Business – Small businesses and those committed to their current location in K.C. are too often left out of the tax incentive equation. They have provided a steady tax base to our city for decades and they should be included in any discussion of economic development. To assist them, I will: (1) maintain city infrastructure in and around these businesses; (2) ensure transit access to business/commercial centers; and (3) cooperate with CIDs – groups of businesses that are committing their own funds, usually bearing more than 50% of project costs – to fund improvements in commercial districts. I will also make city hall friendly to businesses that are struggling to invest in their physical plant and employees. As mayor, I will declare war on red tape.

  4. Smenibypedind on November 16, 2007 3:19 am

    Two new studies show why some people are more attractive for members of the opposite sex than others.

    The University of Florida, Florida State University found that physically attractive people almost instantly attract the attention of the interlocutor, sobesednitsy with them, literally, it is difficult to make eye. This conclusion was reached by a series of psychological experiments, which were determined by the people who believe in sending the first seconds after the acquaintance. Here, a curious feature: single, unmarried experimental preferred to look at the guys, beauty opposite sex, and family, people most often by representatives of their sex.

    The authors believe that this feature developed a behavior as a result of the evolution: a man trying to find a decent pair to acquire offspring. If this is resolved, he wondered potential rivals. Detailed information about this magazine will be published Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

    In turn, a joint study of the Rockefeller University, Rockefeller University and Duke University, Duke University in North Carolina revealed that women are perceived differently by men smell. During experiments studied the perception of women one of the ingredients of male pheromone-androstenona smell, which is contained in urine or sweat.

    The results were startling: women are part of this repugnant odor, and the other part is very attractive, resembling the smell of vanilla, and the third group have not felt any smell. The authors argue that the reason is that the differences in the receptor responsible for the olfactory system, from different people are different.

    It has long been proven that mammals (including human) odor is one way of attracting the attention of representatives of the opposite sex. A detailed article about the journal Nature will publish.

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