Window on the West
Opinion column
by Mary Rupert
Monday morning quarterbacking might occur Friday morning this week with the Chiefs. Second-guessing is the easiest story that can be done. Wouldn’t everyone have done something differently if he had only known in advance what the outcome would be?
When it comes to Monday-morning quarterbacking of the Unified Government’s business policies, it’s true that it has been pro-business, and also pro-resident. In other words, the commission has been making decisions on a case-by-case basis, often.
It has given a lot of incentives to large businesses, including many incentives that worked and some that did not. A lot more have worked than haven’t.
A UG committee heard on Monday evening about two new businesses that had received bond funds that will be changing ownership in a fairly quick turnover. One is the Advance Auto store at Wyandotte Plaza and another is an assisted living facility on 89th north of Parallel Parkway.
The UG also has recently clamped down on the proliferation of dollar stores throughout the community, once they started multiplying.
More recently, the UG decided to limit used car lots locating at former restaurants and grocery stores. Now any used car lot that wants to move into a retail location will have to apply for a permit, a change from past years. This new rule also applies to other automotive businesses such as auto mechanics and detailing. However, it does not apply to new car dealers, a move that rankled Joe Vaught, who asked the UG not to pass the new rule. According to Vaught, the new rule favors new car dealers over used car dealers. His real estate client, a used car dealer, moved to Bonner Springs after this rule was passed recently for Kansas City, Kan., he said.
On individual permit items, the commission sometimes will not allow a business to have a permit if there are a lot of neighborhood protests against it.
In addition, the UG currently is studying its vending machine policy. It was pointed out at earlier meetings that Walmart Neighborhood Market in Argentine was told it could not have a vending machine in front, while some stores at The Legends Outlets had vending machines in front of stores. Officials pointed out that the vending machines at The Legends were not visible from the outside streets and so fall into a different category than the other vending machines.
Sometimes they try to get new businesses to locate here, and succeed, and sometimes the business goes somewhere else, as did an automotive supplier who recently announced a location near the Kansas City International Airport with a 75 percent tax abatement.
On the pro business side, within the last year, an effort has been made to streamline UG paperwork for businesses.
In another pro-business move, earlier this week, a UG standing committee moved forward a program that would give small grants to small businesses in the community. About five to seven small grants could be given out annually under the pilot program. That effort will answer critics who say the UG only helps big successful businesses.
Like the football teams, sometimes the new businesses here win, sometimes they lose. We’ve heard a lot of residents who are critical of offering incentives to new businesses, but it’s also clear that if the city loses a lot of businesses, it loses the property taxes or payments in lieu of taxes, as well as sales taxes, that these businesses would pay. And the residents would pay more property taxes themselves as a result.
To reach Mary Rupert, editor, email [email protected].