| Question 1 to further limit tax incentives that can be offered to promote economic development in the city will be the main topic of this month’s SKCA meeting at 6 p.m.Monday, May 13, in the front building of the South Patrol Police Campus, 9701 Marion Park Dr.
Put on the June 18 ballot by an initiative petition drive, Question 1 would prohibit abating or redirecting more than 50 percent of real property taxes as an incentive to attract new businesses and to encourage job growth to the city.
In 2016 the KCMO City Council passed an ordinance that currently limits real property tax abatement as an incentive to attract jobs and businesses to no more than 75 percent for ten years and 37.5 percent for an additional 15 years except in severely distressed areas or for projects with high impact jobs.
Proponents of the measure claim generous tax abatements deprive taxing jurisdictions like school and library districts of revenue required to provide needed services, while opponents claim limiting such incentives even further than the 2016 ordinance did would put KCMO at a competitive disadvantage to neighboring cities that could offer greater incentives to attract business and job growth. |
