Truman Sports Complex

What The Mayor Thinks:

Decades ago, when the economics of both professional sports and local government were very different, a “gentleman’s agreement” evolved in which the city verbally agreed to help Jackson County with their obligation to the stadiums by chipping in $2 million a year to help defray the costs of maintaining the Truman Sports Complex. That agreement was made long before the advent of lucrative sports profit-sharing plans, and long before the population explosion in suburban cities surrounding the urban core.
The $2 million annual subsidy, of necessity, comes straight out of the city’s general fund – the same pot of money used to fix roads, repair sidewalks and provide other basic services like snow removal and police patrols.
But there is another inequity. Most Kansas Citians are taxed three times for the stadiums – once as a resident of Kansas City, once as a resident of Jackson County, and once as a resident of the State of Missouri.  Independence residents don’t pay for stadium upkeep three times. Lee’s Summit residents don’t pay three times. And Raytown residents don’t pay three times.
I agree wholeheartedly with the people I hear from each week at town halls, or each year around budget time. The city’s money should be spent keeping our neighborhoods safe and well maintained. We no longer can afford to help Jackson County pay its obligations to the Sports Complex.

What The Mayor Has Done:

Since my election, your city government has had to grapple with significant budget shortfalls; some related to the global recession and others created by decisions made by City Councils past. As I poured through the numbers that first budget cycle and looked for ways to protect basic services, that $2 million donation to Jackson County continued to haunt me.
In years past, the City of Kansas City has entered into too many bad deals, binding its residents to decades of financial inequity. Those deals cost us each and every year, and hamper our ability to provide the services necessary to offer a City that Works to our residents.
This verbal promise made years ago is one deal we can, and should, put a stop to, I reasoned.
How could I defer street maintenance one more year, shrink our transit funding and reduce our public safety funding in order to continue to subsidize Jackson County’s sports stadiums?
I recommended against doing so each budget year and began to explore dedicated and permanent funding streams to fulfill Jackson County’s commitment. I met with team officials, county officials and sports authority officials. Not surprisingly, they’d rather just have the city’s money.

What The Mayor Plans to Do:

I’m not done pushing yet, and ultimately I will succeed. I have to for the financial wellbeing of the city. General fund money should be used to pay for services that provide the lifeblood of our city. We need more cops. We need $13 billion in improvements to roads, bridges, sewers and facilities. We don’t need to continue to pay for more than our share of regional amenities like the Truman Sports Complex.

Earnings Tax

What The Mayor Thinks:

It is a rare town hall meeting that someone doesn’t complain about the city’s earning tax (e-tax), calling it an unfair tax that discourages businesses from moving here, or saying that it penalizes them for living in Kansas City rather than in one of KC’s suburbs. The fact is, however, that the e-tax is our largest single source of revenue, and 50 percent of it comes from people who don’t live in Kansas City. It is one of the few ways we have of getting people who live in the surrounding suburbs to share in the cost of our government, and the amenities that it provides them, such as our museums.
The November earnings tax election will allow Missourians who do not live in Kansas City to tell us how to finance our government. That should be our decision alone. No one from the outside should dictate how Kansas City runs our government.
Further, if the November ballot issue is approved statewide, Kansas City voters will be asked in April to reaffirm the earnings tax. If the earnings tax is reaffirmed, Kansas City voters will be required to return to the polls every five years to reaffirm the earnings tax again and again. Concern in the financial markets about such an onerous cloud over the city’s chief source of revenue will destroy Kansas City’s credit rating.

What The Mayor Has Done:

Since St. Louis billionaire Rex Sinquefeld first started pushing for a statewide vote on municipal earnings taxes, I have spoken at length with economists, studied the numbers, spoken with labor leaders and business executives and listened to city residents at town halls. After careful thought and consultation, I voiced support for the earnings tax, and announced my opposition to SInquefeld’s proposal.

What The Mayor Plans to Do:

Having said that, though, the e-tax is under fire for some valid reasons. We absolutely need to look at long-term comprehensive tax reform to modernize the way Kansas City receives revenue. Talking about taxes is never popular for the average politician, but that is where I’m different.
I welcome an attempt to make sure our tax structure still makes sense, and I welcome those who have ways to change it to chime in.
What I can’t welcome is a push by out-of-town interests and voters who don’t live in Kansas City to tell us what to do.

Finances

What The Mayor Thinks:

When I took office, Kansas City’s annual budget was a shell game of overestimated revenues and underestimated expenses. That dangerous game stopped the day I took office.
The previous administration tripled the city’s debt from $500 million to $1.5 billion. That administration was more focused on glitzy projects rather than on basic city services, and it showed. City services suffered; city residents suffered; the city’s overall economy suffered.

What The Mayor Has Done:

Each year since taking office, even against extraordinary opposition and despite the worst period in the U.S. economy since the Great Depression, I have turned the city’s teetering finances around by being smart with the money. I have moved the city toward structurally balanced budgets that no longer push expenses into the future. The city’s budget is sane again. Despite the recession we have held the line on increased debt and brought the city’s “savings account” to the highest level its had in the last ten years.
Our city’s employees are working harder than ever before, because much of this progress is a result of their good work and sacrifices: two years of salary freezes and significant layoffs.
I also have pushed through policies regarding the use of debt to finance needed improvements, and I have been successful reigning in the willy-nilly use of tax incentives for high profile-low return development projects.

What The Mayor Plans to Do:

I have chosen to make the right choices, no matter the pushback. And as a result of hard work balancing budgets, and the sacrifices of our city employees, Kansas City now is well positioned to take advantage of the coming economic recovery. I’m not done yet.
Rest assured, we will make even more progress during my second term by fully restoring financial stability and professionalism to your city government, and by keeping an eye on the city’s proverbial cash register. Being a good steward for your money isn’t just a smart choice, it’s the moral thing to do.