Our blog community relies on some of the SMARTEST people in Kansas City dedicated to the REALITY of the local discourse beyond hype and consultant talking points.
To wit . . .
CHECK THIS KICK-ASS EXPLANATION OF THE APRIL GO BOND VOTE BAIT & SWITCH!!!
In easy to understand terms, this KICK-ASS KANSAS CITY INSIDER offers a glimpse at a dubious and cynical tax & spend plan that confronts local voters.
Checkit:
TKC READER: GO BOND VOTING STRATEGY EXPLAINED
The following is not intended to be for the $800,000,000 GO bond or against it. It is only intended to answer the question: Why vote for a new tax on everything in town when the city has other options that does not require ANY public vote?
The city DOES has the ability to issue bonds without a vote. They are called "special obligation bonds". They've issued hundreds of millions over the last several years. They can be used for pretty much anything. Last year the city issued 300-million of this type bond and about 20mm went to roads and bridges. These bonds are repaid are through any available fund the city has. In other words, the earnings tax, sales tax, and all the taxes currently collected can repay this sort of borrowing obligation.
So the city does have the ability to issue debt without seeking permission from the citizens. Why do it this way, when doing it this way requires a tax on ALL property AND requires a vote of the people? It's a logical question.
The logical answer is that by voting an $800,000,000 in general obligation bonds another new tax is added to all our property.
With this new tax, the city can continue to spend current taxes for projects they are regularly doing, like last years un-voted $300,000,000 special obligation bond AND the new tax will free up the money the city currently is spending on the basic stuff like roads, bridges, sidewalks etc.
Freeing up money currently spent for basic infrastructure work, will allow them to do additional projects WITHOUT A VOTE OR SEEKING PERMISSION FROM THE VOTERS. An easy example is that if they don't have to spend tax revenue for $40,000,000 worth of street repairs (the current plan) as they currently do through these special obligations bonds, they CAN spend it on things the community has voted against, like the streetcar or a new airport or any other bad idea the city decides to pursue.
We do need basic infrastructure improvements, and the city HAS the ability to do their projects now. However, the City CAN NOT do BOTH, the needed basic infrastructure WORK and any un-voted pet projects they typically do, because eventually they run out of OUR money.
Adding a new tax with a GO bond, relives the stress of dollars typically spent on un-voted (or unneeded) projects and gives them more dollars to do things voters may not desire.
It's a clever approach. It's like making your kids get jobs to bring in additional revenue for their education, when in reality, you have the money to pay for their education, but you'd like to spend your kid's college fund on a country club membership.
So the real question is, do you want to give the City additional dollars that are not actually needed if they stopped spending on non-essential projects?
We will see in April.
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