RAYTOWN'S LEADING NEWS SOURCE

BY PAUL LIVIUS

Paul's Rant!

URBAN LEGEND

Raytown is a Low Tax Town . . . NOT!!!

A result of the budget crisis facing Raytown has been a vocal number of people casting about for solutions. One often repeated solution is raising the property tax on homeowners and business owners in Raytown.

Proponents point to the city’s property tax and correctly claim that it is a low levy compared to most other area cities.

What they are leaving out of the equation is that when you add together all the other property taxes districts which include: Raytown Parks, Fire District, School District, Jackson County, Library, Mental Health Fund and Blind Pension, the property tax levy becomes one of the highest in the metropolitan area.

The same can be said about sales tax revenue. Once again, Raytown has one of the highest sales tax rate in the area.

The problem is not that the city is does not produce enough revenue. The problem is that Raytown has a history of over-spending. What is worse, the past two administrations under Sue Frank and David Bower led Raytown down a path of fiscal insanity that has left the city saddled with millions of dollars of debt. The Raytown 350 Live TIF is the white elephant in the room very few at city hall even want to discuss.

Voters will take dim view of raising taxes when they have been misled in the past. Following is a short list of so-called “dedicated taxes” that promised to solve specific problems in Raytown. Many of those promises have fallen short.

PARK / STORM SEWER IMPROVEMENT TAX: In 2010 the voters of Raytown approved a quarter of a cent sales tax for funding of parks and storm sewer improvements. The ballot language specifically said the sales tax would be “split” between park needs and storm sewer needs.

In 2015 newly elected Ward 1 Alderman Karen Black pointed out the sales tax had been collected, but the “split” never took place. In fact, ALL of the sales tax went to the Park Department.

After many special meetings the Board decided to use the following formula to “split” the sales tax. The Park Department was guaranteed $280,000 annually. Any money collected after that would be “split” 75% for parks, 25% for storm sewers.

Incidentally, the five years of sales tax collected between 2010 and 2015 was never returned to the city. 

There are probably a good number of people in Raytown who suffered storm water related problems due to flash flooding this past summer.

Do you wonder if they want to pay more money for taxes when the city did not come through for them under the 2010 sales tax?

TRANSPORTATION TAX: This sales tax was dedicated to be used for transportation purposes only. At the time the voters were sold on the tax package, “transportation” was translated to mean the timely and proper maintenance of neighborhood streets.

THE REALITY: A portion of the sales tax goes to pay for the small ATA bus driven through Raytown twice a day. It is part of the agreement with Walmart which promises to provide public transportation to the Intermodal Bus Stop located at Walmart on 350 Highway.

The Intermodal Bus Stop is the circular part of Walmart Way located on the west side of the Walmart Parking Lot. Its entrance and exit is on 350 Highway. Part of the “transportation tax” is paying for the debt created to build Walmart Way and the traffic signals on both sides of 350 Highway. 

PUBLIC SAFETY TAX: Many people are aware taxpayers were promised additional patrol officers when the Public Safety Sales Tax was approved. In reality, what happened was a slight of hand by which some officer positions, funded from the general fund, were switched to be paid for by revenue from the special sales tax.

Technically speaking, the sales tax did pay for those positions. But there was not a net gain in officers on the street as promised. The rest of the money did pay for new police positions, for the most part, those positions are office positions within the department.

TIF REQUIREMENTS: Another little secret not shared with the public is that any sales tax, whether it is new or old, is captured by the retail establishments that make up the TIF project. This means nearly all sales tax dollars (in the case of Walmart) does not make it to city coffers. The sales tax is used to pay down the debt of the TIF bonds.  

Even if it is a dedicated tax, like the Transportation Tax or the Safety Sales Tax, a good size portion of the sales tax collected goes to pay down the TIF debt.  This is true even if the sales tax is created after the TIF is created.

To their credit, the Board of Aldermen has made some changes that will help the situation. They have ordered the Raytown Police Department to quit the practice of giving officers cars to use to drive to and from work. 

They have made substantial cuts in every department at City Hall. The struggle they are involved with now is with the Police Department. The word from City Hall is that the Police are coming around to the reality that the money is simply not there.

Hopefully, the Board and the Police Department will come to an effective agreement that cuts the budget. No doubt it will be difficult. It is not really a question of choice. It must be done or the city will be in a situation of not being able to pay its bills.

Property Tax Increase

is not a Silver Bullet

A reality that has finally dawned on many at City Hall is that even if the property tax were to be increased – it would fall far short of what is needed to raise funds that simply are not there. The reason is simple. Raytown is a Fourth Class City. Which means it is a statutory city. A statutory city is governed by the laws of the State of Missouri. The state of Missouri limits how high the property tax can be in a statutory city. As of this writing, it is $1.00 per hundred dollars valuation.

If the city were a Charter City, it could be raised higher. But the voters have turned that option down four times in Raytown.

A property tax increase would have to be approved by the voters in Raytown. Not only that, but depending on which State Law you are following, it may be require to be approved by a super majority (more than 50% approval) of the voters. 

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The following column is in response to an article in Time Magazine just published last week. We have sent these missives to Time Magazine before. But are still waiting for a response.

The Fight to Change
How Hurricanes are Named (a response)

BY GREG WALTERS

What a TIMEly article (please pardon the pun!).

It was just 39 years ago the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization decided to name hurricanes using male and female names on a rotating basis.

According to the article, “Gender bias still persist, albeit in more subtle ways”.

A 2014 study found that people are less likely to prepare for hurricanes with women’s names, which makes those storms more deadly.

Well, there you have it. It has been qualified because someone did a study on it. Now we know it is serious business. A fine outstanding group known as NOW, has been disrespected because hurricanes with female names are not held in as high esteem as hurricanes named after boys.

Aside from the absurdity of having to dig back 39 years to start this story, my wife and I find it totally ridiculous.

We are Midwesterners hailing from Kansas City, Missouri. We worry more about tornados around here. The tornados do not get named, probably because they are so short lived. But they do punch a wallop when t they hit. We do not measure them with Category numbers. A more simple solution has been found by recognizing the strength of a storm by measuring its force with the alpha/numeric F1 through F5.

For those not familiar with Midwestern tornados, F5 is the type that means “run and hide!”

But, as Mark Twain once famously wrote, I digress.

This article is about the ignominy of those members of NOW who feel defamed because the female names do not garner the attention male names do when hurricanes are tagged with a moniker.

Here is our solution.

Between my wife and I, we have been the proud owner of five dogs.  

Their names were Meko, Cuddles, Biskette, Vee, and Wickett. 

Meko was the only boy. A strong willed Dachsund. Miko and “V”, a very protective German Shepherd, were of pure breed lines. I bring this up because we do not want some sort of class warfare to muddy the waters of our crystal clear solution.

In the American tradition, the rest were all mutts. Cuddles was a Cocker Spaniel / Bird Dog mix.  Biskette was an American Eskimo / Cocker Spaniel mix. And, now there is Wickett, a Miniature Poodle / Scottish Terrier Mix.

The reader will note that even though each dog was either a girl or a boy dog, the names (with the exception of Biskette, are not gender specific. This fact is the genius of our solution to the age old problem of NOW members being disrespected because hurricanes named after girls are not properly feared.

As owner of these find dogs we would proudly allow their names to be used to identify hurricanes. We feel quite certain the dogs would not mind. We also believe other pet owners would allow the same. Of course this does open a whole new bag of worms.

Cat owners, and, cats in general, will probably feel left out. 

Maybe we can name some tornadoes after them.

To paraphrase the Harry Potter folks, “problem solved, crisis averted!”

Greg and Mecee Walters live in Kansas City, Missouri with their “forever puppy” Wickett. Wickett was named after the leader of the Ewoks of Star Wars fame.

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