Release the TIF Audit

The City Council’s finance committee was set to discuss a new audit of tax increment financing, or TIF, way back on January 31st. The study is a follow-up to a 1998 report that was critical of the use of TIF and made recommendations for improving, and in some cases eliminating its use. It was reported by the Kansas City Star that Committee chairman and then mayoral candidate Chuck Eddy delayed the release of the report. Eddy said he wanted the Economic Development Corporation and the TIF Commission to comment on the audit’s contents first. Councilman Fairfield, also a mayoral candidate at the time supported Eddy's position. “As soon as the report’s complete, we’ll listen to it,” Eddy said. Since when is an audit not complete until the very groups critiqued by the audit get to comment on it? I have the same complaint about that kind of logic that I did when the Mayor's Environmental Policy wasn't released until the Chamber of Commerce was allowed to "make some changes." Government should not fear the light of day. Release the audit. Then we can all comment on it. The TIF Commission, the EDC. The Mayor and the City Manager can write another scathing critique to be published in the Star. And the rest of us, the unwashed masses, the proletariat can put forth our ignorant opinions on topics our leadership feels we're too simple-minded to comprehend. In the interest of full disclosure, I support Mark Funkhouser for mayor. I told him this in person several weeks ago. But this audit goes far beyond the mayor's race. It goes to trust in our government. Ironic that the two principal players in this, Chuck Eddy and John Fairfield finished so far down in the mayor's race they barely even warranted a mention. Also ironic that both have been tied to pro-TIF stances. This leads me to two logical conclusions. 1. The audit is once again critical of TIF. It has numbers and examples that show the previous audit's recommendations have gone largely unheeded. 2. The pro-TIF groups; The EDC, the TIF Commission, The Downtown Council and the Mayor's office do not want their credibility damaged before they can get a friendly candidate elected to the mayor's office. In the absence of information, people will naturally assume the worst. I call upon the members of the Finance Committee to remember whom they work for. Us. All of us. Every taxpayer. Every citizen dependent on their leadership, yet bestowed with their servitude. Release the TIF Audit.