TKC BREAKING NEWS!!! KANSAS CITY TAX FIGHTERS DEBUT PETITION AGAINST CONTROVERSIAL WORNALL VILLAGE CID!!!



Our TKC blog community coverage on a contentious tax issue in Waldo offered a better look at the sitch and community sentiment than MSM news and now we offer a peek at the latest effort in neighborhood push back.

KANSAS CITY TAX FIGHTERS ARGUE AGAINST GROCERY STORE STRIP MALL RENOVATION SPIKING LOCAL TAXES!!!

Behold . . .

Wornall Village CID Petition

Here's even more detail and a quick tease on the grievances of these bold local voters and their effort that might spark further taxpayer push back. . .



WVP: Increases In Kansas City Sales Tax Should Be Put To A Vote

The new Wornall Village CID (Community Improvement District) will increase sales tax by 1% for 20 years to pay for improvements and petitioners want voters to know why they are opposing it.

Petitioners want voters to know that taxing districts like these have no oversight with little in the way of restrictions on the spending of the tax-payer’s money and are set to last a minimum of 20 years. The Wornall Village CID is actually set to automatically renew for another 20 years without any need to do anything at all, potentially lasting 40 years and collecting a minimum of $6 to $8 million in tax funds (or more).

“I believe by adding this new CID, it will mean that the people are going to be paying almost 10% in sales tax here and most people won’t even know about it,” says Waldo resident and petitioner Chris Bouchard, who owns the most affected home, which is directly behind the proposed project at 85th and Wornall Road.

Proponents of the project don’t understand why people can’t just shop somewhere else, but with so many CIDs being formed and no limitations on (a) how much tax can be charged for multiple districts; and, (b) how many CIDs can be in one area, petitioners claim that it is too hard to go somewhere else that isn’t affected.

They point out that not only are there too many CIDs being formed, but that too many CIDs are being formed with just one owner in charge of everything. As a matter of fact, public records reveal two other CIDs set up near the area, this year in addition to the Wornall Village CID: one at 85th and Ward Parkway and the other at 89th and State Line, both are single-owner districts that charge an additional 1% sales tax without voter approval (or knowledge in some cases).

“This CID is essentially rewarding property owners for poor stewardship and for creating blight,” says Waldo resident and petitioner, Angie Lile in a recent blog post. “How does this create incentive for property owners across the metro to take care of their properties? How is this fair to the other business owners who are good stewards and pay for their own maintenance in order to thrive?”

The Missouri State Auditor recently released a scathing report which highlighted just a few glaring weaknesses in state law with regards to the creation of CIDs. One of the things voters should be aware of is the increasing burden on the Missouri Department of Revenue to track these CIDs and monitor them.

Another problem with single-owner CIDs are with how tax-payer funds are spent. There is nothing in the law that says they can’t hire a family business to do the work at higher-than-market pricing for example.

While there are no state laws prohibiting the creation of a single-owner CID (layered on top of another CID), the auditor urged municipalities to take measures to protect tax-payers. Only City Council can say no to continued taxation without representation with these special taxing districts.

An official Notice of Referendum Petition was filed on December 14, 2018 and petitioners will now have 30 days to collect 3,417 more signatures in order to have the CID repealed or put to a city-wide vote.

This seems to be bad timing for City Hall in light of the Mayor’s recent announcement to push a city-wide sales tax to fund universal pre-K education, which will be on the ballot in April.

Registered Kansas City Missouri voters can visit the Waldo Public Library at 75th and McGee Wednesday, December 19th, and Thursday, December 20th, from 5pm to 8pm to sign the petition. Future signing dates will be publicly posted at http://WornallVillageCIDpetition.com
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Developing . . .

Comments

  1. Gosh, almost 3500 valid voter signatures in 30 days, with holidays intervening, that's mighty tough. Good luck I hate these CIDs jacking sales taxes sky high. So regressive.
    Radish

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  2. about time. Would be glad to see go to a city-wide rule. The sales tax increases hurt families and people on a fixed income. They are nothing but corporate greed.

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    Replies
    1. ^^^ 100% agree. Hope they get the signatures and would like a bigger effort to make sure we don't have to do this every time that CIDs are imposed on a community.

      Delete
  3. ^^^ they hurt people period

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  4. Give Waldo the same treatment as 31st prospect and 18th vine then watch and see which area appreciates it. Oh wait too many white people in Waldo never mine tax the shit out of them. Next time when the e tax,combat,property,and 18th vine need help just remember to vote no on any taxes.

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  5. What they won’t talk about is how in 5 years they will come back asking for more sales taxes for some other project. It’s only a matter of time before certain areas in KCMO are being charged 12-13% sales tax while crime still remains an issue and services have problems. How are those water bills coming along btw?

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  6. This tax is just DUMB. Let the grocery store pay for its own improvements and adjust its prices accordingly. Then people have a choice, not just stuck paying whatever it is scott taylor decides.

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  7. Anyone who complains about how state government limits and specifies what taxes cities can levy and for what needs only to watch KCMO abuse every tool in the bag.
    TDD
    CID
    TIF
    Earnings tax
    You name it!
    The legislature should greatly tighten the requirements for these "revenue sources" or take the punch bowl away entirely.
    Corporate welfare night and day.

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  8. This is city hall's answer to everything: more taxes. If they hadn't given breaks to big companies through TIF, maybe there would be some more in the till.
    Besides, the way to fix South Wornall is with ZONING. Parking lots that empty straight onto Wornall need to be gradually eliminated. Route the traffic down a side street that has a traffic light. Problems solved. The way to get run down businesses off of Wornall is codes enforcement. Parking lot damaged? Issue a fine. Broken window? Fine. Lights out? Fine. Make the landlords choose between maintaining their properties or spending money on fines that go to city hall. This really isn't rocket science.

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  9. Geeez why not subsidize it like a Museum then food would be sold at below cost out of the back of Escalades.

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  10. Thank you for linking this. Could not see it on the Nextdoor app and I have heard a little bit about the lead up to this petition so I wanted to find out more on it. What people don't know is that this CID will tax people Beyond the boundaries of the shopping center from what I hear it's a gigantic tax on the neighborhood and that is unfair just to subsidize a grocery store and a few of the fast food franchises. Let them pay for it on their own let them do something other than making the cost of living higher on people who are retired or who do not have the ability to go other places to buy groceries. My father lives in that neighborhood and he doesn't have a lot of options for other places so charging him more just to buy groceries is really a shame and something that should be stopped. I hope that the council people will listen to this argument or this petition passes and gets them to stop. It's a shame when people are so greedy that it takes voters to regulate their efforts.

    ReplyDelete

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