RAYTOWN REPORT

Years ago the City of Raytown had a hiring practice at City Hall that required that all city department heads be residents of the city in which they work. The practice ended during the single term of Mayor Jack Nesbitt. Since that time, three of the management team positions (Finance Director, Public Works Director, HR/City Clerk) have been turned into absentee resident positions. Raytown is one of the few communities in the area that does not require department heads to life within the community that pays its salary. When I tell elected officials from other cities of our policy it is generally met with surprise and wonder why we tolerate such a practice. The recent spate of turn-over (five changes in the last three years) has been a missed opportunity to correct the situation. Raytown City Hall should take a serious look at residential requirements for management team (department heads). It would foster pride in the community, bring greater awareness to the needs of the community b...

FLIP-FLOP . . . . . . to make a sudden or unexpected reversal, as of direction, belief, attitude, or policy: The Raytown Board of Aldermen did a monumental flip-flop at its last meeting when it changed direction on two applications for a 353 tax abatement in Downtown Raytown. The Board tabled the ordinance approving the controversial applications at the request of Mayor David Bower. In a memo to the Board Bower wrote there was a need for a structured system to determine how the city should grant ALL tax abatements before moving forward with the legislation. He also expressed concern that some members of city staff may have made promises that were out of line with the grant application process. Two weeks earlier the Board had increased the grant application of two Raytown businesses from a ten year 100% abatement to a 15 year abatement. (10 years at 100%, 5 years at 50%). By tabling the ordinance before them, the Board and Mayor took corrective action in the best interest of all...

Raytown City Hall has seen its share of change this past year. A large amount of that change has been in employee turnover. Personnel changes are not peculiar to government when administrations change. David Bower’s fledgling first term as Mayor is not an exception. The past year has seen an unusual amount of turnover in key positions at City Hall. Part of the turmoil can be attributed to unfinished business left over from Mayor Sue Frank eight years as Mayor. In the waning years of her administration, Frank saw the replacement of a City Administrator, two Directors of Public Works, and a revolving door in the Office of the City Attorney. Mayor Bower inherited that reality. It was added to when the City’s Finance Director of ten years announced -- this past summer -- that he was moving on. Shortly afterward, the interim Finance Director -- who had worked under him-- announced she had found employment elsewhere. The city is currently looking for a new Human Resources Director and a n...

Four weeks ago the Board of Aldermen amended a tax abatement agreement with HyVee Grocery Store to include a section regarding “claw backs”. Claw backs is the term given to those conditions which allow a governing entity to take back tax abatement agreements if the entity receiving the abatement does not live up to its end of the bargain. In most cases, that “end of the bargain” is very simple. The business or property owner must keep the property receiving the abatement open for business. It is a common sense way of guaranteeing the taxpayers that they are getting their money’s worth from the property owner. When the Board approved the amendment to create the “claw back” with HyVee they were applauded for taking care of business in such a timely manner. But that was four weeks ago. Last Tuesday, the Board reversed its policy for two property owners in Downtown Raytown. Jeff Page and Cary Properties, LLC (represented by Gary Knabe) are two local businessmen who have applied for ta...

It has been nearly two weeks since I last posted. My apologies for being late. The Thanksgiving Holiday were busy. That, and the crush of business has taken up a lot of my time. So, I have some catching up to do . . . from my reading of the posts, it is clear that explanation called for in explaining how the TIF created by the city for Walmart works. Raytown Live is the name given to the T AX I NCRMENT F INANCING District where the new Walmart Super Center is to be constructed next summer. Call it what you will – the TIF is there for two purposes: 1. To build a new votech school for the School District. 2. To pay for the infrastructure (parking lot, buildings, etc.) for Walmart RAYTOWN’S WALMART TIF: Tax Increment Financing is the term given to the practice of creating a taxing district and using the tax collected to finance the commercial entity within the district. Most TIF’s are written in such a way that a 1% sales tax increase is split bet...