Tag: Tax increment financing
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Taxpayer-funded development in Wichita opposed
After the formal presentation I personally complemented the Minnesota Guys and thanked them for what they were doing downtown. They assured me that their redevelopment work in our downtown would be completed without government incentives, and I assured them that they would have my support as long as they stayed out of the public treasury.
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Topeka tax increment financing project struggles
In Topeka, a residential and retail project funded with $5 million of tax increment financing (TIF) is in trouble.
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Tax increment financing questions topic at Wichita city council meeting
On Tuesday the Wichita city council heard a request by Real Development for a $2.5 million increase in tax increment financing on a downtown project. Discussion during the meeting revealed how little is known about the numbers that the city uses in deciding whether to participate in the project. Numbers that don’t make sense, plus…
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Wichita Exchange Place TIF should be rejected
Tomorrow’s meeting of the Wichita city council will feature a public hearing as to whether a tax increment financing district that benefits Real Development should be modified.
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Wichita economic development incentives discussed
At today’s meeting of the Wichita city council, economic development incentives were a topic of discussion.
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Wichita targeted economic development should end
Is the City of Wichita able to choose which companies are worthy of taxpayer assistance for the purposes of economic development?
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Wichita Warren Theater IRB a TIF district in disguise
On Tuesday the Wichita City Council will consider an economic development incentive for a local business. The process the city is using to grant this incentive bypasses the scrutiny that accompanies the formation of TIF districts while providing essentially the same benefit.
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Kansas news digest
News from alternative media around Kansas for March 29, 2010.
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Randal O’Toole discusses urban planning in Wichita
Last week Cato Institute Senior Fellow Randal O’Toole was in Wichita. He delivered a public lecture Thursday evening to a crowd that braved poor weather to attend. O’Toole said he spent 15 years studying urban planning. He said he’s learned this: “Urban planners promise us paradise on earth, but first we have to give them…
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More questions surround WaterWalk hotel proposal
Yesterday the Wichita Eagle printed a letter from citizen activist John Todd concerning the proposal for City of Wichita subsidy for a hotel in the downtown WaterWalk development. This is the unabridged version of the letter. In 2002 elected city officials leased a prime 20-acre parcel of city owned downtown land known as the East…
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Estes Park repeals TIF district
A city in Colorado has voted to repeal a TIF district. Wichitans ought to take notice. Randal O’Toole, the author of the post, notes the complexity of the TIF mechanism. This is in line with testimony I’ve delivered to the Wichita City Council, in which I characterized TIF districts as “a confusing arrangement that hides…
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Carlos Mayans addresses state and local issues
Last Friday immediate past Wichita mayor Carlos Mayans addressed members and guests of the Wichita Pachyderm Club. Speaking of his experience as a member of the Kansas House of Representatives, Mayans said that Kansas state spending must be brought under control. Having served under governors from both parties, he said that Republicans spend as much…