UG hoping legislative dislike for American Royal STAR bond project doesn’t affect current projects underway at 98th and Parallel
by Mary Rupert
A preliminary plan to use sales tax revenue (STAR) bonds on moving the American Royal from the Kemper Arena area in the Kansas City, Mo., bottoms to an area near 126th and State Avenue in Wyandotte County met with some opposition in the Kansas Legislature today.
Mike Taylor, Unified Government lobbyist, said some legislators opposed the idea of the American Royal project using STAR bonds today because they believed the money from future sales taxes that will expire at The Legends Outlets should go back to the state’s general fund.
About $42 million is expected to become available to the state in sales taxes when the Legends Outlets STAR bonds are paid off within the next year.
The proposed American Royal site is not yet firm, according to Taylor. Under discussion but without an agreement yet, is a site near Wyandotte County Park, Bonner Springs, at 126th and State, and also near the National Agricultural Hall of Fame, the former Sandstone Amphitheater (now called Providence Medical Center Amphitheater), the Wyandotte County Museum and the Renaissance Festival site.
A proposed amendment today was worded in a way that it might delay any future use of STAR bonds, according to Taylor, and the UG is currently studying it to see if it would have any effect on auto dealerships and the U.S. Soccer complex being built with STAR bonds near 98th and Parallel Parkway.
That project is separate from any proposal for the American Royal. The dealerships and U.S. Soccer training complex are currently under construction, and use STAR bonds previously approved for the Schlitterbahn complex, according to Taylor.
Taylor said he didn’t think the car dealership and U.S. Soccer projects would be affected, but the UG is reviewing the language of the amendment to see what would be affected.
“No one denies that Village West and the Legends area was hugely successful,” Taylor said. “Wyandotte County per se is not being targeted.”
Instead, some legislators are focused on the amount of money that the state might be giving up if it approves the STAR bond project, he added.
“They’re in such desperate income situation because they cut income taxes so deeply, they want every dime they can find,” he said. Some legislators don’t want government to divert the funding to another project, they’d rather have it in the treasury to fill the budget hole, he added.
Schlitterbahn’s STAR bonds were approved at least eight years ago, and were not issued until just recently, according to Taylor. Schlitterbahn had planned a large retail development, but when the economy tanked in 2008, Schlitterbahn decided to scale back its plans, adding development a little bit at a time and privately financing it, he added.
Current laws do not require legislative approval of STAR bond projects, but the Legislature now is taking an interest in the STAR bond projects, Taylor said.
The American Royal project became public this morning when a legislative committee weighed in on a Department of Commerce financing proposal. Previously, it was kept under wraps by the state government. Details of the plan were contained in a story from the Associated Press that said the project included a 5,000-seat hockey arena, children’s museum, hotel, stores and restaurants. The American Royal is a horse and livestock show, with a rodeo, that traces its history to 1899.
Taylor said it wasn’t a Unified Government idea, but the UG has been listening to the proposal and working with the state government and American Royal on it.
“It wasn’t our idea, not something we proposed, but we agreed to sit down and have discussions with the state and American Royal officials about how it would work,” he said. Those discussions are still going on, he added. The UG has not committed yet to do anything or to make the deal happen, he said.
He added that the UG does not want to use its portion of the local sales taxes that would come off the Legends Outlets for the American Royal project, but wants that local portion to go back to the community projects and uses that are currently under discussion by Mayor Mark Holland in his series of town hall meetings with the public.
That $12 million to $13 million in local sales tax revenues will not be considered for this project, Taylor said. “That money has to come back to the citizens of Wyandotte County as their pay off for the project they’ve done out there,” Taylor said.
But the state is a different question, he added, and it could do the project without the UG STAR bond local sales taxes, he added.
The American Royal project would have to go through some sort of local agreement or resolution at some point to move forward, and it is not at that point yet, he added.
One Wyandotte County legislator, who requested to remain nameless, was for the American Royal project in general and thought it would be a good addition to the county.
Calls to other sources, including the Department of Commerce and other legislators, were not returned in time for this story.
