by Mary Rupert
The Kansas House today voted to sustain the governor’s veto of a provision that would stop future STAR bond projects in Wyandotte County.
The effort would authorize STAR bond projects again in Wyandotte County, which had been singled out in the bill earlier passed by the Legislature.
“We sustained the governor’s veto by a large margin today,” House Minority Leader Tom Burroughs said.
He said it puts to rest the concerns about economic development projects that are slated to use STAR bonds here in the future.
“It also continues to allow Wyandotte County to remain in consideration for the American Royal development, which would be a tremendous opportunity to continue the successful development within our community that STAR bonds provides,” Burroughs said.
The uncertainty created by the provision in the bill has a negative impact on developers who are wanting to begin projects, he said. This uncertainty that has occurred in the past three to four weeks can have an ongoing impact, he added.
Burroughs said a few years ago, when it became apparent that the American Royal was thinking of moving, he had a discussion with the governor about the possibility of bringing it to Kansas.
Burroughs said he anticipates that the developers, administrators and local leaders will continue their dialogue to move the project forward.
He said he was excited about the possibility of Wyandotte County becoming the host of the American Royal and its many events including the horse show, barbecue and rodeo. He believes it is a viable project.
“I believe the STAR bonds can help us ensure that the project not only meets the financial criteria but will be able to pay for itself. I’m very excited about the information I have received,” Burroughs said.
Another bill is under discussion, and was passed in the Senate, to make substantial changes to STAR bonds. It was based on a study and included about 10 points.
Burroughs said there was a hearing on that STAR bond bill this morning in the House.
Burroughs said STAR bonds are the best economic development tool by far in the nation. Standards for STAR bonds were set high to encourage large investment with ancillary economic opportunities associated with those projects, of a minimum of $100 million, he said.
“That’s what allowed us to be successful with NASCAR,” he said. It allowed a standard to be set as to what the STAR bonds can do and provide as far as economic impact and economic investment are concerned, he added.
There was bipartisan support in the Senate for changes to STAR bond policy.
“What we’ve gotten away from, is projects need to meet the criteria of STAR bonds,” Burroughs said. “There are those that want STAR bonds to meet the criteria of a project.” That undermines the use of STAR bonds for projects of great magnitude and long-term economic viability, he said.
Burroughs said it is a very complex issue, and that when people make changes in policy on the fly, without debate and discussion, there is a tendency for the Legislature to want to fix what isn’t broken.
The STAR bond project originally at the Kansas Speedway and The Legends Outlets is scheduled to be paid off within the next year or so, and at that point, the state will begin receiving millions of dollars in sales taxes. One of the speakers today gave an estimate of about $40 million a year for the state in revenues; however Burroughs was not sure of that figure. But he thinks it will be at least $17 million.
“Any tax dollars that come in from the payoff of the STAR bonds are tax dollars we wouldn’t have seen had it not been for the STAR bonds projects,” Burroughs said.