The TIF Commission Has Failed Us All

I'm old school. While most finance wonks have moved on to far more powerful calculators and computer programs, I prefer to dig out my trusty old Texas Instruments BA II. It has served me well over the years and I know my way around its keyboard. Sometimes out of either pure laziness or extreme obsessive-compulsive behavior I skip the shorthand and enter the full amounts when I'm calculating something. Instead of '167.9' I punch in 167,900,000. That's one hundred sixty seven million, nine hundred thousand dollars. Why that figure? That's the latest estimate put before the TIF Commission for the City's share of the Power & Light District. When I look at that many zeros cascading across my little calculator I begin to get queasy. This is an increase of $36,900,000 from just a little over a year ago. In reading the article in the Kansas City Star about the latest financials for the Power & Light District there are so many figures and quotes from TIF Commissioners that I don't know where to stop being outraged. I finally settled on this. "Some members of the TIF commission expressed surprise at the amount of the cost increases for the city's share of the project." Probably the single most important and risky investment in our City's history and the TIF commissioners were surprised?! Dear TIF Commissioners. Step into my office. You're fired. There should be no surprises, especially with regards to the Power & Light District. This plan was analyzed by you. Approved by you. That makes it your responsibility. Your baby. If I had my professional reputation tied to this deal you can bet I would be obsessing the details to the point of night sweats. I don't like surprises. Especially $37 million surprises. I know the TIF commission is considered a cherry mayoral appointment because you get to sit behind a table once a month and say "yes" to every rich and powerful developer who comes before you. I'm sure there's a lot of good will generated amongst the developers and attorneys in this town. Is it any wonder that our current mayor is a former TIF Commissioner? Our TIF Commissioners need to be gatekeepers, not ushers. Somewhere along the line the charter of the TIF Commission has gone from stewards of the public trust to conduits to the public funds. This has to change. With new leadership about to take over at City Hall, my greatest hope is the new mayor will be very critical with his appointments. Critical in his selections, and critical in his evaluations of their performance going forward. We can no longer afford to have surprises with our tax dollars.