Last month, the Harrisonville Board of Aldermen voted down an ordinance that would have backed bonds for the Harrisonville Marketplace Redevelopment Plan. This month they changed course and approved the plan.

Last week, in a 5-3 vote, the Board approved the backing of over $9,000,000 in bonds to reimburse expenses on the project. In January, developer Jerry Simmons asked the BoA for help covering $6,000,000 in overrun costs. He had explained then that the development was estimated to cost $10M but the project had already incurred costs of $16M.

“It’s not the fault of the city and it’s not my fault,” Simmons told the board last Monday. “The economy has changed.”

City attorney Steve Mauer said the city was being asked to underwrite the bonds to secure a better rate for a higher amount, but that does not mean the city owes the developer money. Harrisonville in effect becomes co-signers and will become responsible for repayment of the loan if the developer is unable to.

From the Cass County Democrat-Missourian:

“I think everyone is in favor of the development going forward and based on what we were told if this did not happen there was a probability of foreclosure on the development,” (Harrisonville Mayor Kevin) Wood said. “The question has been how much should the city be involved and things are completely different (financially) from when we started this project.”

Wood also said this was a move that cities all over the area had already made and that it was time for Harrisonville to carefully use what tools it has in spurring development.

“Many cities have had to do this and it was time for Harrisonville,” said Wood. “I think the difference here is that we have been very careful about this.”

The board also approved the creation of a community improvement district, or CID, for the development as an additional revenue generator to cover development costs. In a presentation to board members it was said that revenues would have to fall below 70 percent of projected numbers for the city to have to tap into appropriations.

CIDs are areas where businesses basically have the ability to levy and collect special assessments and sales taxes without approval from city residents. The theory being that citizens can vote with their dollars on whether or not to support the district.

According to the Missouri Bar the fundamental attribute of CIDs is the empowerment of citizens to "take back control of their communities instead of waiting for government to solve their needs in competition with other communities." Ultimately "[t]hrough the community improvement districts, residents can form their own quasi-governmental body among their neighbors, set measurable goals and see their tax dollars at work in their own backyards."

Cook: "I had to vote for the salary increase"

www.casspolitics.com

South County Commissioner Bill Cook (R) ran on a platform of "sound and responsible" government. At a candidate forum in Freeman last fall Mr. Cook made a promise that he would not accept any pay increase as a commissioner. On January 8 of this year the Commission unanimously approved a salary structure that included a 3% pay raise.

When asked about why he voted for the budget Cook said:

Yes I did vote for the budget and the salary increases were in that budget. I tried not to take the increase but there is a lot more to it than that. I can tell you what I am doing to offset the increase I saved. I take home about $39,900 after things have been taken out, with the 3% increase that is about $1,200. I am taking that out of my expense that I could be reimbursed for.

Here is historical information regarding salaries of elected officials in Cass County:

Controversy over June 2 tax levy

The Harrisonville school district is asking voters to approve a $.55 tax levy to build a new $14.5million Early Childhood Center facility. It would provide expanded preschool options and before– and after-school child care for preschool students and be constructed on property the district already owns in the Jones Ranch subdivision which is north of Harrisonville on Hwy. 7.

A website campaigning against the measure, www.nonewlevy.com has a few complaints. They point out that Harrisonville already has the 35th highest levy in the state (out of over 500 districts) and that the brochures provided by the District only mentions the "Operating Tax Levy", without taking into consideration the "Existing Debt levy" which is an additional $.87.

Here is the official ballot language for June 2:

Shall the Board of Education of Harrisonville R-IX School District of Cass County, Missouri be authorized to increase the adjusted operating tax levy of the District to $4.7572 per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation, and to use such funds for the operation, maintenance and improvement of school facilities, including but not limited to the construction and equipping of an early childhood facility? If this proposition is approved, the adjusted operating levy of the District is estimated to increase from $4.2072 currently to $4.7572 per one hundred dollars of assessed valuation.

While it's true the operating tax levy is $4.7572 per $100 assessed value, the total current levy is $5.0772. If the measure passes, the total levy will become $5.6272 per $100 assessed value, placing the district in the top 5% of the state.

Another complaint is that the information provided to parents seems to violate the school's policy on political campaigns:

No contribution or expenditure of district funds shall be made directly by any Board member, employee or agent of the district to advocate, support or oppose any ballot measure or candidate for public office. This does not prevent Board members or administrators from making public appearances or issuing press releases concerning any such ballot measures.

Reasonable expenditures may be made solely for the purpose of providing patrons of the district with objective information regarding ballot measures in order to inform voters concerning issues that directly affect the district.

Admittedly, the brochures only mention reasons to vote for the initiative but the objectiveness of these materials is in the eye of the beholder. The district lists the benefits of the ECC, what the tax levy will do, and does mention there is a "need" for a new ECC. The current building is a modular classroom which serves 3 and 4- year- olds and the new building would include a gymnasium and full-service kitchen.

Any questions on the tax levy can be directed to Principal Jauna Weber at 380-4131 ext. 3222

Big Brother may soon be watching...

The House Transportation Committee unanimously passed Senate Bill 58, which will most likely expand the use of red-light cameras in Missouri.


The Bill is known as the Missouri Universal Red Light Enforcement Act (MURLE) and would regulate how the cameras are to be used, in addition to sending some money to the state, via the "Red Light Enforcement Fund". There will be a $500 fee for each camera installed and the "money in the fund shall be used to conduct audits to ensure agency compliance with the provisions of sections 304.271 to 304.281, including, but not limited to, ensuring that the agency is distributing the fines collected as required under section 304.288."

"Any agency that implements a system shall submit an annual report to the Missouri department of transportation. The report shall include, at a minimum:
(1) The number of intersections enforced by active systems;
(2) The number of notices of violation mailed;
(3) The number of notices of violation paid;
(4) The number of hearings; and
(5) The total revenue collected as a result of the program.

What this means is that each municipality is to figure out how much money is being collected and how many people are actually contesting the tickets. If everyone who received a ticket showed up to court instead of mailing in the fine then the cities would end up losing money in the long run.

Privacy advocates are up in arms about this Orwellian practice, upset mainly because this is an issue the citizens are not even allowed to vote on. In most cities this is an act the elected officials will vote on, with no input from the pubic. The reason is because there is no way the people would vote for red-light cameras. The owner of the vehicle receives the ticket regardless of who was driving. This seems to run contradictory to the 6th Amendment, which guarantees your right to confront the witnesses against you.



The Bill would, however, regulate a few of the more dubious practices associated with the law - the length of the yellow signal and the cost of the fine. The fine will be capped at $75 (except in places that already have them) and the yellow light will be set at 4 seconds throughout the state. This is good news since other cities have placed the cameras at intersections with short yellow lights, resulting in more tickets and revenue. Dallas, Texas had to increase the timing of the yellow lights after complaints, and once the cameras were no longer profitable they were removed.

Kansas City, St. Louis and Springfield already have red-light cameras. KC went live with it's first red-light camera on April 1 and issued 610 tickets in the first month. City Councilman Russ Johnson all but admitted the cameras were solely for revenue purposes: "Other cities have installed cameras at red lights. Once people stop running them the cameras no longer become profitable and the cameras usually get taken down. There's a good chance the same thing will happen in Kansas City."

As of right now there are no red-light cameras in Cass County.

This article from STL Today says that "Missouri House Speaker Ron Richard has agreed to appoint a special committee to investigate the political profiling done by the state’s “fusion center” known as MIAC."

For those who don't remember, the MIAC report was a state-sanctioned report that tried to link 3rd party voters with domestic terrorists, otherwise known as militias. Even though the Federal and state constitutions each mention militias in a positive manner, apparently today the term militia is supposed to conjure up images of machine-gun wielding psychopaths whose sole purpose in life is the destruction of the U.S. government.

The MO state highway patrol decided to retract this report after quite a few angry calls and letters from all over the country.
Back to the latest news - Grandview Alderman Mike Ferguson, spokesman for the MO Libertarian Party took a jab at MO Lieutenant Governer Peter Kinder:

“In contrast to Lt. Governor Peter Kinder’s grandiose statements and rhetoric in his press conference last month, he’s nowhere to be found on actually delivering the solution to this problem. Despite his skillfully taking a public bow for the hard work of others, it should be pointed out that Mr. Kinder contributed nothing to this effort other than empty words.

“It’s important for the public to know the difference between those who merely talked about leading, like Lt. Governor Kinder, and those who truly led, like Representatives Schoeller, [Rep. 123 from Belton, Chris] Molendorp, Dixon, Kelley and Guest.”

MO auditor to track stimulus funds on website

Susan Montee, Missouri state auditor has a website that provides information about the Federal stimulus money coming to MO. You can check it out HERE.

Welcome to the Missouri State Auditor’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) tracking site. The state auditor’s office is Missouri’s independent watchdog agency and we are committed to embracing a high level of transparency and accountability of public funds within Missouri state government.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the ARRA into law. This marked the beginning of a 45-day window for each state to claim the funds allocated to it by the act.

In order to receive funds from the ARRA, governors have 45 days to certify that they will first of all “request and use” funds from the ARRA and second of all use them to create jobs and promote economic growth.

If a governor does not accept funds allocated to his or her state before that window expires, the state’s legislature then has the option of certifying those two conditions itself. To see which states have accepted the ARRA funds, click here.
To learn more about the ARRA click here.

To read the full-text of the ARRA legislation, click here.

Missouri and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
On February 26, 2009, two new funds were created within the State Treasury to deposit most ARRA money coming into Missouri. The two funds are the Federal Budget Stabilization Fund and the Federal Stimulus Fund. This site will be updated daily to reflect the allocation of federal funds received in the State Treasury as a result of the ARRA.

For more detailed information about these funds and how they relate to ARRA, click here.

Higher sales tax in some parts of town

Cass Politics

If you’ve noticed that you seem to pay a bit more in sales tax at the new Price Chopper in Harrisonville then you aren’t alone. Many cities all over the country have special “districts” that self-impose an extra sales tax. Little is mentioned of these taxes in typical media outlets, so the consumers generally aren’t aware of the practice. Normally this extra money is used to help reimburse the developer and to finance road improvements.

Mike Tholen, Finance Director for the City of Harrisonville says that Price Chopper “along with the others in that development, is located in a governmental subdivision known as the Harrisonville Marketplace Transportation Development District. That municipality has imposed an additional 1.000% sales tax on eligible retail sales within the district boundaries to reimburse the developer for the costs of public infrastructure improvements related to the project. This makes the overall effective rate at the Price Chopper today 7.975% for eligible sales (by state law, certain food items are exempt from some, but not all, sales taxes).”

So as of today, if you buy groceries at Wal-Mart, you’ll have an immediate savings of 1% compared to shopping at the new Price Chopper. But maybe not for long. Mr. Tholen goes on to state:

“Similarly, the Harrisonville Towne Center Transportation Development District has imposed a 1.000% sales tax in their district, which includes Sutherland’s and Russell Stover’s, and the Highway 71/291 Partners in Progress Transportation Developments District (Mill-Walk, McDonalds, WalMart area) is discussing the imposition of a sales tax for their area. None of these TDD sales tax rates are listed in the above summaries of citywide rates because they do not apply citywide, only within their district.”

If you shop in Belton -

Mike Wade, Finance Director for the City of Belton: “On sales tax, there is currently one active Transportation Development District (Belton Town Centre) with a 1% tax of it’s own. This is a separate entity from the City and was set up through the courts to make improvements to the transportation system for that area. The TDD is becoming a very common tool throughout Missouri for making road improvements.

There is one other TDD formed around the new South interchange currently under construction, but there are no businesses there as of yet. It was a cooperative effort by the Cities of Raymore, Belton and Cass County.

Since the Belton Town Centre Transportation Development District is also in a Tax Increment District, half of the tax collected goes to the district for road improvements. They have a board of directors who develop a budget for how their money is to be spent. As a legal subdivision of the State, they have restrictions on how that money can be spent.

The TIF half of the tax goes to fulfill the obligation of the TIF Redevelopment area which in this case was the construction of that shopping center and supporting infrastructure as well as road construction like the City portion of the new interchange being built at Hwy Y and 71.

The TDD is going to improve roads in that Hwy Y vicinity, but haven’t collected enough money to accomplish that yet. The tax was 1/4 of 1% up until very recently, so not a whole lot of money has been generated so far

And Raymore -

Cynthia L. Freeman, Financial Analyst, City of Raymore:

“The 58 Hwy Market Center CID (Price Chopper, etc.) is the only district currently assessing additional sales taxes for their districts. The additional sales tax can not exceed one-half cent, which is what is currently being charged by the district. This would bring the total sales tax charged at Price Chopper 8.975%. ”

So what have we learned? 2 districts in Harrisonville (Price Chopper, Sutherlands) currently have an additional 1% sales tax, and there’s a possibility that another district will do the same (Wal-Mart, Mill-Walk, etc…). Belton has an additional 1% sales tax in the Belton Town Centre and Raymore has an additional .5% sales tax in one district there (Price Chopper).

I am certainly not lamenting the fact that patrons must pay a little extra but it’s nice to know where these entities exist.