Category: Wichita city government
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Warren Old Town Wichita Theater: Good Money After Bad?
This letter is from my friend Darrell Leffew. Not everyone seems to understand the folly of throwing good money after bad. “Taxpayers are already on the hook” is Wichita city council member Jeff Longwell’s opinion as expressed in a Wichita Eagle article. Mr. Longwell, I realize you weren’t a member of the council when we…
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Wichita Tax Swap Has Dangers
The City of Wichita is thinking about raising its sales tax and using the proceeds to lower property taxes (“City starts talks on 1-cent hike in sales tax”, May 14, 2008 Wichita Eagle). While some debate the relative merits of sales taxes vs. property taxes, there is one thing I am certain of: if Wichita…
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Wichita city manager’s warning is too late
Wichita Interim City Manager Ed Flentje issued this warning to the council: “There are in this community much larger businesses with much larger employment who may see this opening as something that will open a door for those businesses to come and say, ‘You’ve done it before, you can do it for us.'” Dr. Flentje,…
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Tax Abatements in Wichita
A few months ago I spoke before this council asking that you not grant a tax abatement. At that time I was told that granting a property tax abatement doesn’t have any impact on City of Wichita spending. I found this quite remarkable, that new homes and buildings can be built but not consume any…
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Wichita City Manager Search: Look Before You Leap
In the business world, there’s an old adage that says “look before you leap.” So, upon hearing that the Wichita city council was going to hire the only city manager candidate interviewed, I decided to do some looking. What I have seen thus far, has not been all that pretty to me. One of the…
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Haze surrounds Wichita smoking ban
Smoking ban supporters claim that they have the right to go to bowling alleys, bars, and other such places without having to breath secondhand smoke. That’s false. No one has the right to be on someone else’s property on their own terms. The property owner controls those terms. If the bar owner lets the band…
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How to pay for special tax treatment in Wichita
Mr. Mayor, members of the city council, I ask that you not vote to approve this request for a tax abatement, and that you cease this practice altogether. Alternatively, I ask that you adopt a practice that will help realize the costs of these actions. It is no doubt difficult to compete with other states…
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Remarks to Wichita City Council, April 1, 2008
By asking for the TIF financing, developers are sending us a signal that without the special tax favor, their project would not be economically feasible. They evidently have judged that it would not be profitable. They must feel that they will not be able to sell or rent at prices that will cover their costs…
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It’s not the same as pee in the swimming pool
In a column in the February 27, 2008 Wichita Eagle (“Smoking ban issue not one to negotiate”), columnist Mark McCormick quotes Charlie Claycomb, co-chair of Tobacco Free Wichita, as equating a smoking section in a restaurant with “a urinating section in a swimming pool.” This is a ridiculous comparison. A person can’t tell upon entering…
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The harmful effects of Wichita’s special tax favors
In the past few weeks a handful of companies in Wichita have asked to be exempted from paying property taxes on investments they have made. This week Wichita may decide to grant special tax treatment to a large development in downtown Wichita. Is it wise for the City of Wichita to grant these special tax…
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Testimony on the Wichita New Communities initiative
I am a Wichita area real estate broker and developer, and I am here to speak as a private citizen. I speak in opposition to the city’s $250,000 Funding proposal for the current New Communities Initiative Area, because I believe this program in reality, represents the resurrection of the failed government Urban Renewal housing programs…
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In Central-Northeast Wichita, government is cause of problem, not solution
An article in The Wichita Eagle “Plan offers hope for city’s troubled heart” (November 14, 2007) reports on the development of a plan named New Communities Initiative, its goal being the revitalizing of a depressed neighborhood in Wichita. The saddest thing in this article is the realization that there is consideration of a plan for…