Can o' worms

  Uh-oh.

  Kansas City budget director Troy Schulte has an interesting idea.

  The city's number-cruncher told a council committee he's looking for "mid-term" funding options to tear down more dangerous homes -- at $8,000 per.

  Schulte says he knows where he might get that kind of cash: the $2 million the city sends Jackson County every year for the Truman Sports Complex.

   (Video.)

  Now that voters have decided to fund TSC improvements, Schulte reasons, the city's $2 million could go for something else -- like neighborhood repairs.

   Committee chairwoman Deb Hermann:  "As far as I'm concerned, everything's on the table."

   The expected wailing from the county courthouse will be heard later today.  Watch for it here.

Posted by Dave Helling

UPDATE:  Henry Rizzo, Jaco Legis chair, says cutting back on city stadium funding would be "shortsighted."

    A post says this proposal is common, and that's right, it has happened before: Carol Coe used to try and cut funding for the stadiums every April.  And, of course, it happens in Jeff City every year -- the state kicks in $3 million per.

  The difference here:  Schulte says the money is available because of voter approval of the stadium package.  That's a new argument.

Posted by Dave Helling

Comments

The city's budget office pulls this stunt a lot. Just check the Star archives.

[Marilyn Fleming]

And this is why we moved from the city and others should. If people would pay attention to what KCMO does, they would see and remember the times this sort of thing has happened, not with TSC necessarily, but many other things. Unfortunately, we are still in Jackson County and will continue to pickup the bills for KCMO.

[nicky]

considering that half of jackson county's population is in Kansas City, Missouri, i don't understand how the rest of jackson county is picking up the bill for Kansas City. I mean, KC was the municipality paying 2 mil a year for the TSC, in addition to regular county taxes. if its so important to the rest of Jackson County, why doesn't Independence or Lee's Summit provide their own municipal contribution to the TSC beyond the regular county taxes? what would jackson county be without kansas city, missouri, besides a rundown backwater metro county of 300,000 with a rural, aged infrasture that it couldn't come close to paying for?

http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Products/Profiles/Single/2002/ACS/Narrative/155/NP15500US2938000095.htm

The argument may be new, but it ingores the public record.

As Schulte and Hermann are well aware of (or should be) voters were told that the city and state subsidies would still be in place if the ballot issue passed.

Now that it passed, it kinda puts the city in the position of reneging if they try a switcheroo now, doesn't it?

[Rich]

I would agree. As much as it pains me to say anything in support of the stadium vote, it would seem that the time to start this "conversation" would have been before the public voted, not after.

Actually, the new leases allow the teams to renege on the deal if the city stops paying money into maintenance.

[Butch]

Since the city pays into the Sports Complex, so Kansas City residents north of the river in Clay and Platte get first dibs on tickets like Jackson County residents do. If not, I say screw the stadium and use the money for better things.

[Butch]

That was actually a question, do Kansas City Residents north of the river in Clay and Platte get first dibs on tickets like Jackson County residents do? Sorry for the grammar on the previous post.

[milwolf]

There has been a lot of doublespeak and misrepesentation by Jackson County Legislators, Kathryn Shields, Chiefs, and Royals regarding the Stadium. And why not?
Individually they will benefit from it at the taxpayers expense.

However, people act stupidly and re-elect these baffoons !!

In 1878, the Missouri General Assembly voted against moving the State Line to the Blue River. What a shame ! That blackhole called Kansas City would have been a Kansas problem and saved those of us in Eastern Jackson County a lot of money supporting the welfare, drug addicts and gangsters in Kansas City !!