TKC EXCLUSIVE AND BREAKING NEWS!!! BURNS & MAC SUPPORTERS STRIKE BACK AMID KICK-ASS TKC JOURNALISM AND NEW KANSAS CITY AIRPORT OPEN BIDDING!!!
We'll update more on this later but last night we got an anonymous endorsement of Kansas City's favorite engineering firm . . .
There's a lot to parse but here's a preview of a fact they're soon to throw in the face of tax fighters.
Nevertheless, when we talk about the leadership of the company living in Kansas . . . Here's the counter-argument . . .
"Burns & Mac employees still pay the 1% earnings tax and they're one of the largest payers of this tax."
Again, we've got more on this topic that we'd like to share but this tidbit was posted in fairness and for just a bit of equal time.
Developing . . .
What was they're tax break again?????
ReplyDeleteTKC, People who use KCI will pay the bill for any airport redo thru user fees. Also, 80% of the travelers that use KCI do not live in KC MO. While it's noble for you to fight city hall and B&M, it's the travelers that pay the bill and not the general KC MO population. FWIW, I travel a lot and compared to other airports in similar sized cities, KCI needed a facelift 10 years ago.
ReplyDeleteTraveled for a living. You're wrong. We don't need an airport mall, and we don't need to be another Atlanta. Our airport is fine.
Delete6:38Am It's "their" not "they're". They're means they are. "What was they are tax break again" makes no sense. Please don't comment anymore. You are an idiot.
ReplyDeleteKCI needs an update. It just does. The commentators above are correct, user fees will pay for the airport. I don't get all this hand-wringing and faux outrage. The people who don't want a new airport or the ones who don't travel often. They are on the wrong side of history. This is happening whether you want it or not. Might as well get on board.
ReplyDeleteNah. It's real outrage at a transparent grift that is a gift to developers, not to citizens. Experienced travelers know better, and 'it just does', and 'it's going to happen anyway' are not even arguments.
DeleteHow's the coffee at City Hall?
Grammar bitch
ReplyDeleteYes B$M employees pay earnings tax BUT the city refunds it to B$M corporate. The employees get screwed!
ReplyDelete8:46 are you sad you are not a developer? Did you submit a bid? When has an airport or anything else ever been a gift to it's citizens? That doesn't make any sense! What the fuck do you want?...the developers to bring wrapped gifts to every member of the city? Here's a nasty little secret every member of public office and every CEO knows, the public(people like you) are fucking morons. They are sheep. Comments like yours only give credence to that.
ReplyDeleteIncorrect. Sheep, silent sheep, are what City Hall would prefer.
DeleteWhat do I want? It's so simple even you will understand. Transparenncy. A focus on the real issues of the town and not the leapfrogging to yet another unnecessary project meant to serve our town's unelected masters.
6:38AM & 8:23AM are why nobody listens to the citizens. You all are fucking morons. Not one of you has any idea what the fuck your talking about. Hell, you can't even use proper English or spell correctly. 8:46AM wants gifts from developers?!?
ReplyDelete9:16AM
Delete"Your" is not the same as "you're". "Your" means something belongs to you. "You're" means "you are".
"Not one of you has any idea what the fuck YOUR talking about" makes no sense.
You just added yourself to the category of "fucking morons" you attempted to insult, idiot!
Please refrain from commenting again. Thank you.
8:55 AM is right. Yeah, B&M employees pay the E-Tax and due to the sheer size of B&M they are one of the heavy payers of the tax. But all that money (or at least a very large portion of it) goes back to B&M as part of their incentive package from the city to expand their campus. That's money that SHOULD be going to schools, libraries, infrastructure, ett. that isn't.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's true that the airport would be paid for by user fees on the surface, the term "infrastructure" is an EXTREMELY vague and dangerous term that was used a lot in the $800 Go-Bond deal. Infrastructure could be used to legitimize streets, sidewalks, curbs, parking and such for the airport. That's my concern. That's also my concern for the downtown hotel too. This city government is nothing if not corrupt and secretive. And our city leaders have been in bed for years with companies like B&M and have repeatedly put OUR tax dollars at risk to appease corporations. It wouldn't shock me at all if "Infrastructure" dollars are used to pay for certain things at this airport. It would make sense because I cannot see B&M or ANY corporation writing a 3 billion dollar check to privately fund something of this magnitude 100%. And that would not set well with me nor should it set well with the tax payers of this city. But it's the type of #KorruptCity shit S'lie and his cronies would do and probably will. Look at it like this: If B&M couldn't/wouldn't fully fund THEIR OWN CAMPUS expansion themselves without tax payer incentives, why in the hell should we expect them to do so for the airport?
#KorruptCity
Save KCI!
ReplyDeleteVote against a crony ripoff project!
Calling all, or any, municipal finance experts to please assess the proposed "unique" financing in an op-ed in the local newspaper.
ReplyDeletePlease.
The financing structure looks to be skating by without review by anyone who knows what they're talking about.
"Grammar bitch" is the internet mantra of the proudly moronic.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you talking about. Jolie joke Justus, Jermaine Reed, Slie James, troy Schulte, these are mental Giants !
ReplyDeleteRE: "Burns & Mac employees still pay the 1% earnings tax and they're one of the largest payers of this tax."
ReplyDeleteWell, I suppose it depends on which employees you're specifically referencing! Do they really want to play a semantics game?
FACTS:
The incredible shrinking cost of Burns and McDonnell's headquarters expansion, following KCMO incentives and financing of the project!
These are actual news headlines:
"Burns & McDonnell's $231 million proposed expansion project at 9400 Wornall"
"Burns and McDonnell celebrate their $139.5 million headquarters expansion"
"Burns & McDonnell wants to build a $130 million office addition next to its world headquarters"
"Burns and McDonnell celebrated an $85-million expansion Thursday to its world headquarters"
Burns and McDonnell donated $50,000 to the campaign to renew the KC 1-percent earnings tax. (Because they love receiving corporate welfare from KCMO)
"Three years after defending the earnings tax, Graves wants to use it to help pay for his engineering powerhouse's expansion in south Kansas City. Burns & McDonnell is seeking a tax-increment-financing package that would direct half of the earnings taxes generated from new Kansas City employees to the engineering firm for the next 23 years. All said, the incentive would redirect $41.9 million from the city's coffers to Burns & McDonnell to help pay for the company's $231 million proposed expansion project at 9400 Wornall.
For a company like Burns & McDonnell, which doesn't charge sales tax, TIF is a tool that largely redirects earnings taxes generated by the employees at the Beth Shalom expansion site to cut down on private development costs."
"The firm is one of the leading financiers of local political campaigns, including funneling money to Kansas City Mayor Sly James and other members of the City Council, who ultimately decide whether Burns & McDonnell will get its tax incentives. On November 26, 2013, 263 Burns & McDonnell employees made contributions to James' 2015 re-election effort. Most of the donors lived outside Kansas City. Burns & McDonnell itself contributed $3,500 to James' as-yet unopposed campaign. No stranger to City Hall politics, the company hosted a "candidate preparation" event, on April 26, at its headquarters (across the street from Beth Shalom) for those seeking seats on the 2015 Kansas City, Missouri, City Council."
-----Steve Vockrodt, writing for The Pitch
Burns and McDonnell engineered a tax haven for themselves in KCMO by buying up local politicians.....it's a sly game.
@10:19 Excellent info. And that's the type of #KorruptCity shit that is making it really tough for normal tax payers. Diverting TIF funds away from schools, libraries and such creates a shortage on funds to those entities. Then you have things like the Mid-Continent library tax that got passed last November. That was a "TIF tax" created from the shortage of funds that diverting TIF dollars to corporations creates. Money that SHOULD be going to libraries and schools is getting thrown at people like Burns and Mac to ensure their private ventures are profitable enough for them. Then every few years tax payers are asked to make up the difference, i.e. the Mid-Continent Library tax mentioned above.
ReplyDelete#KorruptCity
I can take a dump on the street and call it "journalism," too.
ReplyDeleteThe crony airport will go down at the polls.
ReplyDelete^^How sadly mistaken you are. How long have you lived in this city? People said the GO bonds would fail & fail miserably. They passed by a lot. People said the earnings tax would fail, and it passed by a large margin. You naysayers are hopelessly out of touch with the people who vote in this city. The people of KC have a very long history of supporting civic projects; pet shelter, zoo, stadiums, fire department, etc. It's almost as bad as the democrats during the last election. The airport is done. You are powerless to do a thing about it.
ReplyDeleteYou have become brainwashed or brain damaged by too much exposure to Mayor Bullhorn's shoe polish.
DeleteThe only reason any of this corruption flies is that most voters don't vote. The only thing City Hall has in its favor is apathy and a widely distributed population--many of whom feel very remote from the latest boondoggle.
You're usually wrong, but this one's pretty bad. :)
Fuck You 9:53
ReplyDeleteSee, when you keep your sentences short you do fine.
Delete4:04 you were still better off saying nothing. You're (not YOUR) getting better at this. Now go turn cartwheels in traffic like a good boy. Moron!
Delete