Despite musical chairs of corporate wellfare, KC economy dismal (Kansas City: sales, 2013)

[kcmo]

Despite musical chairs via corporate welfare, KC economy pretty dismal

I know I'm about the only one that brings these topics up. I mean KC has a nice art museum an improving zoo an amazing new performing arts center etc, but as far as the economy of KC, the bad news should be discussed too.

Of course I believe much of this can be attributed to the whole regional cooperation problem in KC. When you spend all your time competing with yourself, you are not competing with other metros and KC has been doing it so long now that I don't think most in KC even realize it.

I know this thread will be ignored and reasons (excuses) given for why KC is just fine. But I will continue to preach as I watch my hometown continue to slip in national ranking, its local economy continue its migration to the Kansas side and its urban core continue to be relatively ignored and abandoned by the local business community.

No other city has lost 25% of its private sector downtown jobs in the past ten years (despite six billion in public improvements to downtown in the same time period)

So KC here is what you get for paying companies millions to move around the metro. You see a few construction cranes in suburban areas (which are just taxpayer funded buildings that are creating empty buildings and blight some place else) but what is really going on in KC? Very little.

Job creation in metro Kansas City sags while border war rages - KansasCity.com

Metro hardly benefits from Kansas, Missouri border war - Kansas City Business Journal

[erocks]

can we start with voting to get rid of the 1% work in KC tax? although maybe its just me who hates that...

then maybe try and compete with kansas on taxes, especially for small businesses. arent they basically doing away with some taxes? im sure that helps draw people in.

i recently read somewhere that downtown has a 70% or something crazy high vacancy rate for office space. i mean, thats pretty crazy. the building im in is at about 10% occupancy i think, and it is somewhat eerie to be honest. just a huge empty building with a few people coming and going a day. weird.

i think they need to stop with things like these bike lanes, and railway/trolley carts or whatever extra public transportation and do something meaningful.

i agree there are some issues, not sure what to do about them though.

[WiseOwlSaysHoot]

Originally Posted by erocks

i recently read somewhere that downtown has a 70% or something crazy high vacancy rate for office space.

Not even close. It is a 28% vacancy rate, which is too high, but nowhere near 70%.

Originally Posted by erocks

can we start with voting to get rid of the 1% work in KC tax? although maybe its just me who hates that...

There was a vote and it failed by a very wide margin. The tax is needed for city revenue to provide necessary services . The overall tax burden for citizens in Missouri is still lower than Kansas (total Kansas ranks 26th highest and MO is 39th) .

Originally Posted by erocks

then maybe try and compete with kansas on taxes, especially for small businesses. arent they basically doing away with some taxes? im sure that helps draw people in.

I think you missed the point of the OP and the linked articles. This race to the bottom with corporate welfare and tax cuts is only hurting the metro as a whole. Kansas is only just starting to feel the effects of the massive budget deficits they are facing from these tax give aways. The slashes to funding for schools and universities, police and other services are not going help quality of life.

[westender]

I'm doing some periodic consulting work in Kansas City this year -- what I've noticed downtown the past several months is a continual rejiggering of the streets and sidewalks but little action on buildings.

Several sections of Baltimore have been converted from one-way-north to two-way blocks, and the curbs have been altered (to add metered parking?). New light poles have been added, although on one single block of Baltimore or Wyandotte it is possible to see the classic KCP&L 1940s-1950s light pole, the 1970s "urban renewal" brown square light, the 1980s old-city-symbol (intersecting paperclips) light stanchion, and the 1990s-and-later current light pole.

Outside of downtown, the 1920s infrastructure is occasionally still visible -- almost incredibly -- the beautiful curved hexagonal light poles and traffic signals and the blue sidewalk street nametags.

Downtown KC needs to focus less on these small adjustments to the streetscape and more on getting occupancy up. The Mark Twain Tower appears to have maybe a dozen workers in it. And the Kansas City Southern building also appears to have dwindling tenancy.

[WiseOwlSaysHoot]

But what can the city do to increase office occupancy Downtown? (By the way, residential occupancy is excellent and near 100%). I don't think more tax breaks are the answer, although they are sometimes a necessary evil in the current status quo.

The "small things" like improvement to streetscape, adding bike lanes, the streetcar implementation (which I don't think is small) may not make a huge difference, but they all add to the quality of the Downtown experience, which hopefully will make it a place that businesses want to be (especially if they want to attract and retain desirable, young employees).

Downtown will never be able to compete financially with the burbs. The price of land out in a cornfield is so much less and the tax breaks will always be higher. The advantage DT has is the experience and lifestyle of a vibrant urban center.

[MRG Dallas]

I seriously doubt the City "needs" the Earnings Tax. It is an impediment to economic development and a rip off to people who don't begin to benefit from these so-called "necessary services" My family and myself paid it for decades and it served mostly as a subsidy to the City, we saw very little "services" for our money, even though we lived in KC most of that time. It was just a way to tax especially non residents without the threat of voter retaliation. Running residents and businesses out of town where there are favorable options hurts the economy and ultimately, the other parts of the tax base (sales taxes and property taxes). The City thought it could enact a tax that wasn't structured to cost/benefits and helped run off much of the productive sector, then add decades of mismanagement, including the school district and that's what you have. For the record, I hate what happened to Downtown, I have fond memories of a vibrant area and wish it could make a comeback. Much of it is just a sign of the times and "progress" (losing out to The Plaza, suburbs, Kansas, etc.) but KC bears much of the blame for its own demise.

[WiseOwlSaysHoot]

So you never drove on the roads, walked on sidewalks, had your trash picked up, or went to a city park? All of those are funded by the e-tax.

The e-tax is not driving businesses out of downtown (and why would they be going to the Plaza, which also has the e-tax?). It is 1%, it is not that big of a deal.

Taxes are collected in different manners in different municipalities. Other cities may not have the e-tax, but they have higher sales or property taxes, or they charge extra fees for things like trash collection.

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by MRG Dallas

I seriously doubt the City "needs" the Earnings Tax. It is an impediment to economic development and a rip off to people who don't begin to benefit from these so-called "necessary services" My family and myself paid it for decades and it served mostly as a subsidy to the City, we saw very little "services" for our money, even though we lived in KC most of that time. It was just a way to tax especially non residents without the threat of voter retaliation. Running residents and businesses out of town where there are favorable options hurts the economy and ultimately, the other parts of the tax base (sales taxes and property taxes). The City thought it could enact a tax that wasn't structured to cost/benefits and helped run off much of the productive sector, then add decades of mismanagement, including the school district and that's what you have. For the record, I hate what happened to Downtown, I have fond memories of a vibrant area and wish it could make a comeback. Much of it is just a sign of the times and "progress" (losing out to The Plaza, suburbs, Kansas, etc.) but KC bears much of the blame for its own demise.

Exactly. I'm tired of it being blamed on Kansas. It's not Kansas' fault that KCMO doesn't do what it needs to do to remain competitive. Businesses go where it makes the most business sense for them to operate a business. If KCMO offers nothing, what do they expect?

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by WiseOwlSaysHoot

So you never drove on the roads, walked on sidewalks, had your trash picked up, or went to a city park? All of those are funded by the e-tax.

The e-tax is not driving businesses out of downtown (and why would they be going to the Plaza, which also has the e-tax?). It is 1%, it is not that big of a deal.

Taxes are collected in different manners in different municipalities. Other cities may not have the e-tax, but they have higher sales or property taxes, or they charge extra fees for things like trash collection.

My husband's company is in Kansas City, Missouri and we live in Kansas. So he has to pay a 1% earnings tax. If you make $100,000, that's $1000. No big deal? Uh yeah - it is. How is that fair? Missouri residents working in Kansas don't pay it.

Tax Advice: Kansas City May Owe You - Kansas City With The Russian Accent

[MRG Dallas]

My point was it has little to no bearing on the cost/benefits. How do other cities fund roads or trash pick up that don't impose an E-tax? Ever wonder why most big cities DON'T have such a tax?

There are other reasons why The Plaza is favored by businesses. I didn't say the tax was the only reason. Your response is way too simplistic, it doesn't factor in business and residence\y decisions that are affected by the rate and amount of tax. I worked in taxes for decades and I know the 1% was "a big deal" And sales and property taxes are at least imposed where there is a stronger cost/benefit connection. Commuters or visitors don't mind paying a sales tax as it's reasonable to chip in for the benefits a city brings. An income or business tax has little connection to the value of services received, and if you think 1% is no big deal, you're wrong. And it's an unfair tax that punishes workers who receive little of value in return and who cannot retaliate at the voting booth. Politics, pure and simple.