Don't do it KCMO. Don't drop down to the level of Kansas, it's not worth it. (Kansas City: leases, credit)

[kcmo]

Freightquote, major JoCo business, is the latest border war target - KansasCity Star

Economic border war continues - KansasCity Business Journal


This company is up to no good and KCMO needs to avoid it like the plague. KCMO and Missouri need to save their resources and use them to bring new jobs to the metro or to reward loyal local businesses by helping them grow or redevelop an area of the city that really needs it.

DO NOT offer this company tens of millions of dollars, free office buildings etc to move some call center from Kansas to KCMO. I understand you want to "be in the game" and "send another message". But it's just not worth it.

You won't be able to to compete anyway because Kansas will offer incentives to build in highly desirable office parks in affluent zip codes. KCMO, you can not and should not compete with that. When you start offering these types of incentives for Executive Hills East, the Plaza and Ward Parkway, you only cheapen the value of all the other leases in the area and make existing companies think twice about getting a piece of the action. Not to mention, it dilutes any ability for those incentives to work as they are intended (to redevelop areas or build in an urban environment where it's more expensive).

If this company wants to go the the Bannister Mall project or Downtown, then bend over for them just enough to break even (don't pull a Kansas 47 million for 350 employees deal no matter what). If they don't want to go downtown or to a redevelopment project, then offer some basic property tax abatements and if that's not enough, then tell them where to go (or stay). I'm sure many of those employees live in Missouri and already and pay income taxes. Why give that back to the company that will probably move again in five years anyway?

Don't do it. This is destroying metro KC's corporate tax base, subsidizing sprawl, spreading blight and creating so much resentment among area leaders that KC is never going to recover from this nonsense and become a productive regional metropolitan area. If you do this, it will only give Kansas an excuse to go after more KCMO companies and KCMO has more than call centers to choose from.

Let Kansas continue to be the bad guys and get to work on bringing companies to downtown or other areas of the city that really need incentives.

[WiseOwlSaysHoot]

I agree.

I would understand giving them incentives if they were to move somewhere that benefited the city, such as downtown, or if they were part of some larger development.

But just moving across the state line to some suburban south KC office park? The only benefit of that would just be to fire a shot back at Kansas. We shouldn't be that desperate.

[TabulaRasa]

This seems like a stupid move.

[luzianne]

Oh good God. You are obsessed, kcmo!

[MOKAN]

It's interesting to read that Missouri has an incentive that allows companies to keep their employee's withholdings too.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by MOKAN

It's interesting to read that Missouri has an incentive that allows companies to keep their employee's withholdings too.

Nearly every state "can" do it. Most are pretty conservative in using such incentives though for very extreme cases like if a company moved a HQ from Seattle to Atlanta and even then it's rare to see such extreme cases while they have happened several times in the past year alone in the KC area. KS is about the only state that would use such aggressive incentives to bring new jobs to the state where half the employees already live there and the other half won't move there, essentially taking the income tax from existing tax payers and giving it to a private company so they can build or lease for next to nothing and then some.

It's beyond stupid, but apparently very few seem to see just how stupid it is.

The only reason Jeff City is even entertaining the idea is to attempt to compete with Kansas and try to help KCMO out, but even then, MO and KCMO probably won't do it unless it's a redevelopment project which is why they are pushing the bannister mall project.

I hope Missouri and KCMO are not stupid enough to do what Kansas does in reverse and give away all that tax money just so some company can build in some grassy field along 435 just east of state line with state and city income tax money and little else changes.

One can only hope though.

[benji2.0]

Done

It’s official: Freightquote.com is moving 980 jobs to Kansas City.
The online shipping company, currently based in Lenexa, on Friday morning got approval from the Missouri Development Finance Board for state incentives, completing an aggressive play to convince the company to cross the Kansas-Missouri state line.
Freightquote was approved for $7 million in BUILD tax credits, which can be applied to income tax and other business taxes.
Freightquote also is eligible for Missouri Quality Jobs Program incentives, which allow the company to keep payroll withholding taxes.
With an estimated $55 million payroll from existing employees moving to Kansas City and the prospect for about 200 more jobs in coming years, the incentive is worth an estimated $26.2 million.

[kcmo]

^ stupid. They are barely moving into MO and moving to a vibrant suburban office park area.

KCMO and Missouri have now given KS a taste of its own medicine, but now KS has a big excuse to keep doing what they are doing.

I simply do not get this corporate welfare.

Who knows, maybe this will finally create a metrowide truce. There are a lot of companies in KS that moved from MO that will be looking for a new welfare package soon. If KS is not careful, the MO side of 435 and the Lee’s Summit area could do some serious damage to KS in the next decade or two.

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascit...es-summit.html

Lee’s Summit is planning a corporate woods type office park at View High and 470 and will likely go after KS companies hard because those are the types of companies that would move there and LS has a huge pool of white collar commuters.

[benji2.0]

I never really cared/payed much attention to the poaching by kansas but it just so happens that the company I work for(FQ) is the first one to go from kansas to mo so it directly effects me.

From my point of view I'm not really excited about it. Since I live in kansas now its basically amounts to me driving an extra 5 minutes each day to get a 1% pay cut. If they had decided to move to the plaza or downtown I would be okay with it, but across the stateline to another suburban office park? Meh

On the flip side at least we will get a brand new building in a couple years when we move.

Quick question-

Freightquote also is eligible for Missouri Quality Jobs Program incentives, which allow the company to keep payroll withholding taxes.

What exactly does this entail? Does it mean that FQ does not pay payroll taxes?

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by benji2.0

What exactly does this entail? Does it mean that FQ does not pay payroll taxes?

It's the same thing Kansas has been using to take companies from KC only they call it PEAK.

Basically all income taxes that would normally go to the state now go to the company. In these cross state moves in KC, it’s really bizarre because half the people tend to already live in the state they are moving too.

So what income tax Missouri is getting now from FQ employees that live in MO will now go to build a new office building. KS is a pretty big loser here, but in the end, none of this makes sense.

The states of MO and KS should just buy up all the open space along both sides of state line along 435 and build state funded class A office parks and offer free 25 years leases to any company in the other state.

It's the same thing.