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Eastern Jax lawmakers will work to rein in TIF
Jim Davis
November 25, 2005 print edition (excerpt)

Eastern Jackson County, where tax increment financing has become as closely tied to shopping centers as post-Thanksgiving sales, is moving to the center of debate about TIF's use. Two lawmakers from Lee's Summit -- Rep. Robert Johnson and Sen. Matt Bartle -- are preparing to file TIF-constraining bills in December for the General Assembly's 2006 session.

Although bashing has become an annual exercise, the coming session is widely expected to produce what could be the most fundamental changes in TIF since its adoption in 1982. TIF redirects taxes generated by a development to offset the costs of construction that provides public benefits.

The amount of these reimbursements is soaring. A Bass Pro Shops-anchored development in Independence is to receive $73.6 million in TIF, nearly as much as the city had approved for all previous TIF-supported retail projects. Bartle, R-Lee's Summit, said this trend is dangerous because it drains tax money that's needed for other purposes. "The development community is addicted to public financing," he said.

Bartle said public schools are the big losers with TIF because property taxes that provide most of schools' financing are diverted to reimburse developers. "Slowly but surely, schools are seeing their steady source of funding compromised," Bartle said. TIF saps school budgets, he said, because commercial development generates most of the property taxes that support new schools in growing areas such as Eastern Jackson County.

"The net result," he said, "is higher property taxes for individual taxpayers." The Blue Springs R-IV School District reported that it loses more than $16 million annually in property taxes to TIF. The district, whose boundaries extend into Independence and Lee's Summit, contains 11 TIF plans. Gary Jones, the district's assistant superintendent for management services, said the district has raised its levy by more than 25 percent to make up the difference.

Bartle said he'll sponsor legislation that would require schools to get at least 10 percent of taxes generated by new TIF projects. Bartle introduced similar bills in each of the past two legislative sessions; neither advanced beyond a committee hearing. Johnson, R-Lee's Summit, said TIF's use has strayed from its original intent. He said the law aimed to remove blight by making urban locations cost-competitive with suburban sites. "We should get back to the initial premise," said Johnson, a state senator when the law passed. "It's a redevelopment tool. How you can call a horse pasture or a bean field blighted is beyond me." Johnson said he wants to limit TIF's use in suburbs and rural areas, especially for new shopping centers. A similar bill he offered this year wasn't heard.

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