Border war coming to a close? (apartment, condo, low crime)

[pioneer88]

Finally, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback pushes to help end KC area

It's far from concrete but hopefully this will be a step in the right direction.

[Truly Missouri]

So... Now that we've spent ourselves broke by poaching as many business that we could, let's quickly pass a resolution so that Missouri won't poach these business back. Who does Brownback think he's kidding?

[WiseOwlSaysHoot]

While I do think this is a positive sign and a step in the right direction, I am skeptical that much will come of this for a few reasons:

1. This offer has a short deadline, giving the Missouri Legislature essentially two weeks to get it through. That's a pretty tight window for these types of things.

2. This "truce" would be null and void if a company would spend $10M on a new building as part of the move. Even a fairly small office or industrial building would cost that much, so this would only apply to small businesses.

3. This does nothing to curtail the use of tax abatements and TIFs, which I believe generally constitute a larger portion of the incentives than PEAK.

It seems like Brownback is finally realizing that the majority of sane citizens are against the border war tax giveaways, so he is offering up this empty gesture to give the appearance of caring.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by Truly Missouri

So... Now that we've spent ourselves broke by poaching as many business that we could, let's quickly pass a resolution so that Missouri won't poach these business back. Who does Brownback think he's kidding?

Basically.

Downtown KCMO is going to be a very popular place to be in the next ten years. I think you will see a lot of companies finally figure out that their employees want to live in the city and the companies that are not clear out in some suburban office park are going to win the recruiting game. You are going to see a lot of companies take another look at coming back across state line.

The truce is still a good idea though. It's ironic that Kansas wanted no part of a truce when it was proposed by MO leaders (along with business leaders on both sides of state line).

However, the Bronwback truce doesn't hold a lot of water. It's mostly a political move that I'm sure most people will buy. He added a loophole that if a company spends at least 10 million on a new building that they can still offer PEAK incentives. Plus he doesn't mention the use of STAR bonds etc. So basically, his "truce" agreement wouldn't have mattered for the vast majority of the high profile poaches that Kansas has done. You can easily find 10 million or play with the numbers enough to at least show it on paper when you move a major office. Hell, a company like AMC could write a check for 10 million and still end up getting all of it back after PEAK and TIF incentives.

I honestly don't think KCMO is even worried about Kansas anymore. They have way more going on than the Kansas side does. It's almost all redevelopment and urban core projects (EVERYTHING in Kansas in greenfield and still subsidized) and KCMO is not handing out near the incentives per project. Suburban growth in the Northland continues to boom too.

It would be good for both sides to stop the poaching though. I would not agree with poaching companies back from Kansas using the same tactics that Kansas has used. I mean, what's the point? KCMO needs actual tax paying companies, not excessive corporate welfare. Kansas has proved that does no good in the long run. Incentives to help build urban parking garages etc are fine. But insane incentives that pay way more than a company will ever generate in taxes is just stupid and it's even worse when it's happening in affluent suburban and not helping older areas areas which is what Kansas does.

[rwiksell]

Dear Kansas,

You're going to stop the poaching because you're broke, and we're going to stop because we were never a fan of it anyway. That's why we reached out to you for a formal truce awhile back. But you rejected it, so let's call that ship "sailed".

XOXO Missouri

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by rwiksell

Dear Kansas,

You're going to stop the poaching because you're broke, and we're going to stop because we were never a fan of it anyway. That's why we reached out to you for a formal truce awhile back. But you rejected it, so let's call that ship "sailed".

XOXO Missouri

LoL

On the same day...

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascit...-zone-kck.html

Kansas has yet to even release the incentive package they gave to the Dairy Farmers of America to move from KCMO to KCK. I'm sure they are absurd, they always are. So before the Dairy Farmers building is even finished, Brownback calls for a truce. Meanwhile, he is pushing to extend the STAR bonds used to build Village West well beyond 2017 to build a complex for the American Royal. KCK doesn't even want this. They have been looking forward to actually collecting some tax money from Village West, but Brownback wants to create another mirage of economic development. He calls it an Ag tech village or something.

So the Kansas state government is now in the business of poaching companies and other entities from KCMO even when the cities in Kansas have little interest. Brownback seems to think he will create some sort of economic mecca.

NEWSFLASH. If you STAR bond everything out there (continue to STAR bond Village West + all the new development such as the Dairy Farmers, American Royal, the Soccer training facility and even a freaking Auto Mall, how with the city of KCK and the state of Kansas benefit financially?

Oh, but Brownback says the new Agricultural Village will bring in new Ag companies that want to be near the American Royal and Ag Hall of fame!!!!

Sure they will, so long as Kansas gives them PEAK and STAR bond incentives, they just might have a few companies that would take advantage of the excessive corporate welfare that Kansas has to offer. Watch, they will probably come from other parts of Kansas so they will stop paying current taxes and start redirecting their taxes to pay for their new buildings at the speedway.

I'm sure Kansans can't wait for a whole office park of ag companies to move into state funded office buildings and pay no taxes in this Brownback Ag Tech business park. LOL

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by kcmo

Basically.

Downtown KCMO is going to be a very popular place to be in the next ten years. I think you will see a lot of companies finally figure out that their employees want to live in the city and the companies that are not clear out in some suburban office park are going to win the recruiting game. You are going to see a lot of companies take another look at coming back across state line.

Yeah, I don't think so.

[rwiksell]

Originally Posted by luzianne

Yeah, I don't think so.

Yeah, well I do think so. No tagbacks!

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by rwiksell

Yeah, well I do think so. No tagbacks!

Time will prove you wrong. There isn't even enough space for everyone to live and work downtown if they WANTED to, which they don't. Yeah, there are some young people who want to do that. There are a lot more people who DON'T want to. Most people value their own space rather than living in an apartment/condo like they are back in college. They want room for their kids and pets to run and play (and I don't mean finding the nearest park). They want to be in low crime areas, which KCMO is not.

[SPonteKC]

Originally Posted by luzianne

Yeah, I don't think so.

That's quite the salient and powerful analysis, there. Thanks for contributing.