Voice For Liberty

Tag: Kevass Harding

  • Wichita’s Naysayers Shortchanged in Council’s Record

    On August 12, 2008, the Wichita City Council considered the establishment of a TIF district that would benefit Reverend Kevass Harding and his real estate development team. At the council meeting Reverend Harding spoke, and then John Todd spoke, and then myself. We all spoke for, I would guess, roughly the same amount of time.

    On Monday August 18 I looked at the city’s website to read the minutes from that meeting. I printed the part of the minutes that covered this item. My printout may be seen in this image. But you don’t need to look at the printout to see what concerns me:

    Reverend Harding’s remarks are covered using about 227 words in the minutes.

    John’s remarks are covered using 24 words.

    Mine are covered using 11 words.

    Why the discrepancy? The mayor calls John and I “naysayers.” It is as simple, and as blatant, as that?

    (John’s testimony may be read in the post Testimony Opposing Tax Increment Financing for the Ken Mar Redevelopment Project, and mine may be read in Reverend Kevass Harding’s Wichita TIF District: A Bad Deal in Several Ways. I make these remarks available on this website before I deliver my testimony, and I email notice of its posting to all council members plus a few other people at city hall.)

    Even more curious, after we three testified, Mayor Carl Brewer delivered his “covered wagon” speech. You can read my transcription of it in Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer, August 12, 2008, and some commentary in Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer Saves Us From Covered Wagons.

    But nowhere in the minutes is it recorded that the mayor spoke, much less what he spoke about.

    Then, even more curious, the minutes of this meeting are not available on the city council’s website today (Wednesday August 20, 2008). The minutes of the August 5 meeting are missing, too. A short while ago I wrote and asked for an explanation.

    August 21, 2008 update: The missing city council minutes have been located. I forgot that they’ve been moved. The page Council Meetings Video On Demand is where minutes may be found.

  • Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer, August 12, 2008

    Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer delivered these remarks after John Todd and I testified against the creation of a tax increment financing (TIF) district benefiting Wichita minister Kevass Harding. My remarks can be read here: Reverend Kevass Harding’s Wichita TIF District: A Bad Deal in Several Ways. John’s remarks are here: Testimony Opposing Tax Increment Financing for the Ken Mar Redevelopment Project.

    I took the time to transcribe the mayor’s remarks not only because I think Wichitans need to know more about his philosophy of the way government should work, but also because they reveal a few of the mayor’s beliefs that I found astonishing. The mayor appeared to be speaking informally, without prepared remarks.

    Commentary on the mayor’s remarks is here: Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer Saves Us From Covered Wagons. Video is at Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer on role of government and free enterprise.

    Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer: You know, I think that a lot of individuals have a lot of views and opinions about philosophy as to, whether or not, what role the city government should play inside of a community or city. But it’s always interesting to hear various different individuals’ philosophy or their view as to what that role is, and whether or not government or policy makers should have any type of input whatsoever.

    I would be afraid, because I’ve had an opportunity to hear some of the views, and under the models of what individuals’ logic and thinking is, if government had not played some kind of role in guiding and identifying how the city was going to grow, how any city was going to grow, I’d be afraid of what that would be. Because we would still be in covered wagons and horses. There would be no change.

    Because the stance is let’s not do anything. Just don’t do anything. Hands off. Just let it happen. So if society, if technology, and everything just goes off and leaves you behind, that’s okay. Just don’t do anything. I just thank God we have individuals that have enough gumption to step forward and say I’m willing to make a change, I’m willing to make a difference, I’m willing to improve the community. Because they don’t want to acknowledge the fact that improving the quality of life, improving the various different things, improving bringing in businesses, cleaning up street, cleaning up neighborhoods, doing those things, helping individuals feel good about themselves: they don’t want to acknowledge that those types of things are important, and those types of things, there’s no way you can assess or put a a dollar amount to it.

    Not everyone has the luxury to live around a lake, or be able to walk out in their backyard or have someone come over and manicure their yard for them, not everyone has that opportunity. Most have to do that themselves.

    But they want an environment, sometimes you have to have individuals to come in and to help you, and I think that this is one of those things that going to provide that.

    This community was a healthy thriving community when I was a kid in high school. I used to go in and eat pizza after football games, and all the high school students would go and celebrate.

    But, just like anything else, things become old, individuals move on, they’re forgotten in time, maybe the city didn’t make the investments that they should have back then, and they walk off and leave it.

    But new we have someone whose interested in trying to revive it. In trying to do something a little different. In trying to instill pride in the neighborhood, trying to create an environment where it’s enticing for individuals to want to come back there, or enticing for individuals to want to live there.

    So I must commend those individuals for doing that. But if we say we start today and say that we don’t want to start taking care of communities, then tomorrow we’ll be saying we don’t want more technology, and then the following day we’ll be saying we don’t want public safety, and it won’t take us very long to get back to where we were at back when the city first settled.

    So I think this is something that’s a good venture, it’s a good thing for the community, we’ve heard from the community, we’ve seen the actions of the community, we saw it on the news what these communities are doing because they know there’s that light at the end of the tunnel. We’ve seen it on the news. They’ve been reporting it in the media, what this particular community has been doing, and what others around it.

    And you know what? The city partnered with them, to help them generate this kind of energy and this type of excitement and this type of pride.

    So I think this is something that’s good. And I know that there’s always going to be people who are naysayers, that they’re just not going to be happy. And I don’t want you to let let this to discourage you, and I don’t want the comments that have been heard today to discourage the citizens of those neighborhoods. And to continue to doing the great work that they’re doing, and to continue to have faith, and to continue that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and that there is a value that just can’t be measured of having pride in your community and pride in your neighborhood, and yes we do have a role to be able to help those individuals trying to help themselves.

  • Reverend Kevass Harding’s Wichita TIF District: A Bad Deal in Several Ways

    Remarks to be delivered to the Wichita City Council on August 12, 2008.

    There’s several reasons why this council should not approve this request for TIF financing.

    Material in today’s agenda packet doesn’t specify an amount, but past materials indicated that the project was $2.5 million short of the total needed for the project.

    Now some on this council feel that TIF financing isn’t an outright subsidy or gift to the developers of a project. But let me ask you this: if the project is $2.5 million short without TIF financing, and then with City of Wichita TIF financing the project is fully funded, what does that tell you about the value of the TIF district to the developers of this project?

    Under TIF financing, the City of Wichita doesn’t directly give developers the money. Instead, the city issues bonds, and then uses the proceeds from the bonds to do things that directly benefit the developers.

    Now if the developers borrowed that money from a bank, they’d have to pay back the loan. Each year the developers would have to make the loan payments, and also, just like everyone else, they’d have to pay their property taxes. (Those taxes have increased as now the development is worth more due to the improvements made by the developer. That’s the “increment” in TIF.)

    But with a TIF district, the bank is the City of Wichita, which issued bonds to pay for things the developers needed to make the project work. So the developers have to pay back the city. But instead of making payments on a loan from a bank and their property taxes, all the TIF developers have to do is pay their property taxes. By merely paying the same taxes that everyone else has to pay based on the value of their property, their loan is repaid.

    That’s why a TIF district allows developers to effectively avoid paying some or all of the increased property taxes on their development. When a development is undertaken without the benefit of a TIF district, developers have to repay loans and pay higher taxes. With a TIF district, all the developers have to pay is higher taxes.

    I’m tempted to ask this rhetorical question: Why don’t we strip away all the confusion and obfuscation surrounding TIF districts and just give the developers $2.5 million? This way, we fund the development, the shopping center is remodeled, and we wouldn’t have to come back year after year, evaluating the TIF district to see if it is meeting its goals, perhaps pouring in more funds if it isn’t. Instead, we could just give Reverend Harding’s group $2.5 million, wish them good luck, and be done with it.

    But I don’t want to seriously pose that question, because I’m afraid of what this council’s response might be.

    Besides this, there’s another reason to oppose this TIF district, or at least insist this be handled in a special way. Reverend Harding is a member of a board that has to give its tacit approval to the formation of this TIF district. That board doesn’t have to take any positive action; all it has to do is nothing. I spoke to this council about the thorny ethical issues surrounding this on July 8th. At that time Reverend Harding said that he informed the city and his colleagues on the Wichita school board of what he was doing. But it’s not to them that he has an ethical obligation. Instead, it is to the citizens of Wichita and the residents of USD 259 that he has the ethical obligation to make sure that this matter is handled with appropriate transparency. To my knowledge, he has not done that.

    Finally, I have asked Reverend Harding several questions, but he has not answered me, even though I am his constituent: How much tax revenue will the Wichita public school district forgo if this TIF district is granted? And given Reverend Harding’s votes to increase property taxes and his urging for taxpayers to pass an expanded bond issue, shouldn’t he set an example and pay his full share of taxes like everyone else?

  • Questions Wichita Reverend Kevass Harding Will Not Answer

    The Reverend Kevass Harding, a member of the board of USD 259, the Wichita public school district, is also a real estate developer (New life for Ken-Mar Shopping Center: Harding plans to revitalize 13th Street mall, March 14, 2008 Wichita Business Journal).

    The problem is that Harding plans to ask the taxpayers of the City of Wichita to pay for part of his development. Not outright, but through a scheme known as tax increment financing, or TIF. Through this scheme, property taxes that the development pays — taxes that would normally be used to fund general city, county, and school district operations — would instead be rebated to Harding and his team of developers. Well, not directly to Harding’s company, but the increased taxes the development will pay will be used to repay bonds that paid for things that benefited the development.

    This is bad enough. But Harding, as member of the school board, must know that the effect of the TIF district is that less money will flow to USD 259. As the school board firmly believes that taxpayers never send enough tax money to USD 259, I wonder how board members will react to one of their own seeking to avoid paying property taxes. (Well, not really avoiding paying property taxes, but asking that the taxes he pays directly benefit himself, rather than the city, county, and school district.)

    It may turn out, however, that we’ll never know how Harding’s colleagues on the school board feel about this. As explained in Reverend Kevass Harding and His Wichita TIF District, the board of USD 259 doesn’t have to approve the Reverend’s request. All they have to do is nothing, and the request will pass. This is a problem, too.

    I’ve sent these questions several times to two email addresses for Reverend Harding. I’ve called and left telephone messages at the number listed on his USD 259 contact page, and at his church, too. He hasn’t responded.

    Reverend Harding, if you do decide to answer these questions, I will gladly post your responses. You can contact me here

    1. Why is there a financing shortfall for this project that makes it necessary to seek the TIF district financing?

    2. The TIF district financing provides your company with the benefit that the property taxes that would otherwise go to various governmental entities would instead be redirected back to your project. Specifically, the funds would be used, according to City of Wichita documents, to pay for site acquisition costs. Would you please comment on the equity of your firm having its site acquisition costs paid for by the public, when most real estate development companies in Wichita do not have this privilege?

    3. As a member of the Wichita public school district board, you have voted to increase taxes and are on record as supporting a bond issue that would further increase taxes. Have you calculated how much tax revenue the Wichita school district would forgo if your TIF district request is approved?

    4. Please comment on the apparent hypocrisy of your company seeking to avoid paying the property taxes that you, in your role as school board member, demand others pay.

  • Wichita City Council’s misunderstanding of tax increment financing

    On July 8, 2008 I testified at a public hearing at a Wichita city council meeting. Afterward, a council member told me that I had a “glaring error” in my arguments. I won’t identify this member in order to avoid embarrassing the member. The minutes of the meeting don’t identify the member who said this, but video is available.

    My purpose in testifying that day was not to question the merits of tax increment financing (TIF) districts. Instead, I was identifying an ethics problem that a Wichita school board member has regarding his involvement in a proposed TIF district. (See Reverend Kevass Harding and His Wichita TIF District.) In my testimony I stated, with a qualification, that the applicant for this TIF district was asking for relief from paying some of the property tax for his real estate development. After my testimony, a council member told me that I was wrong, that the TIF district won’t allow someone to avoid paying property taxes. True, I said. It was sloppy for me to have said that without clarification, but it wasn’t the point I was making that day.

    But since the city council member brought up the point, let’s examine how TIF districts work. I am sure you will be able to agree that the use of TIF districts allow developers to effectively avoid paying some of their increased property taxes.

    In material prepared by Wichita’s Office of Urban Development and presented at the March 18, 2008 city council meeting, we may read this: “The developers have identified a financing shortfall of $2.5 million, for which they are seeking tax increment financing assistance. The preliminary project budget presented to City staff indicates that TIF funds would need to be used for site acquisition costs in order to spend $2.5 million on project costs eligible for TIF funding.”

    So without the formation of the TIF district, the developers are $2.5 million short. With the TIF district, they’ve got the money they need. We must conclude, then, that the TIF district financing, no matter what it is used for, is worth $2.5 million to the developers.

    Now if the developers borrowed that money from a bank, they’d pay back the loan over some period of years. Each year, out of the cash flow the project generates, the developers would have to make the loan payments, and also, just like everyone else, they’d have to pay their property taxes. (Those taxes have increased as now the development is worth more due to the improvements made by the developer. That’s the “increment” in TIF.)

    But with a TIF district, the “bank” is the City of Wichita, which issued bonds to pay for the benefits the developers needed to make the project work. So the developers have to pay back the city. But instead of making payments on a loan from a bank and their property taxes, all the TIF developers have to do is pay their property taxes. By merely paying the same taxes that everyone else has to pay, their loan (the bonds issued by the City of Wichita) is repaid.

    That’s why a TIF district allows developers to effectively avoid paying some of the increased property taxes on their development. When a development is undertaken without the benefit of a TIF district, developers have to repay loans and pay higher taxes. With a TIF district, all the developers have to pay is higher taxes.

    It is as simple as this.

  • Reverend Kevass Harding and His Wichita TIF District

    Remarks to be delivered to the Wichita City Council, July 8, 2008.

    Mr. Mayor and members of the council, today I will not discuss the desirability of tax increment financing (TIF) districts in general, or the merits of this one in particular. I’ll leave that for the August 12 public hearing. Instead, I wish to express my concerns about a thorny situation involving the applicant and overlapping governmental jurisdictions.

    In Wichita, Reverend Kevass Harding, a member of the USD 259 (Wichita public school district) board is also a real estate developer. His development group is asking the City of Wichita for the creation of a tax increment financing district (New life for Ken-Mar Shopping Center: Harding plans to revitalize 13th Street mall, March 14, 2008 Wichita Business Journal).

    In Kansas, when a city creates a TIF district, the affected county and school district have 30 days to veto its creation. When Wichita creates TIF districts, the county and school district usually agree. To my knowledge, there has been no veto by either. These overlapping taxing jurisdictions don’t have to pass a resolution to agree to the TIF district. All they have to do is not pass a resolution that vetoes it.

    In this case, Reverend Harding is asking Wichita for relief from paying some of the property tax for his real estate development. (Some might disagree that the TIF district provides relief from paying taxes, but that’s not important for now. It is undoubtedly a benefit of some type, and that’s what matters.) Then the Wichita public school board, Reverend Harding being a member of that, has to give its agreement for the TIF district to proceed.

    The problem is that the way the school board indicates its agreement to the establishment of the TIF district is by doing nothing. Only passive agreement is required. Negative action is what is required. If the school board was required to pass a resolution agreeing to the TIF district, Reverend Harding could declare a conflict of interest and sit out the vote. That’s positive action. That happened last week in this very chamber.

    But since no vote is required by Reverend Harding or his board — only passive assent — how can we ask him to recuse himself? Can we insist that he cease to do nothing? That’s the problem with requiring someone to take negative action.

    So what do we do?

    The best solution is for Reverend Harding to withdraw his request for the creation of the TIF district that benefits his development. Then there is no problem with conflicts of interest. This is also congruent with Reverend Harding’s votes to increase taxes while a member of the school board. His business would pay the same taxes he demands others pay.

    Failing that, one way we could handle this situation is that the city could ask the school board to agree to pass a resolution agreeing to the TIF, even through they aren’t required to do this. Then Reverend Harding could publicly acknowledge his conflict of interest and step aside.

    But should the City of Wichita even care about this? Is it the city’s responsibility to ensure that other governmental entities act ethically and transparently?

    In the end, it may not matter, as to my knowledge, neither Sedgwick County nor the Wichita public school district has vetoed the creation of a TIF district passed by the City of Wichita. But I think the citizens of Wichita and USD 259 would appreciate this situation resolved in a way that avoids all conflicts of interest.

  • Distaste for tax increases faded quickly on Wichita school board

    In a candidate questionnaire from the Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce before the recent USD 259, the Wichita public school district board member election, Kevass Harding answered “No” when asked if he would support a tax increase for Wichita schools. The other successful candidates — Betty Arnold, Jeff Davis, and Barb Fuller — were more artful in their responses, promising “financial responsibility” and the usual empty pledges to spend wisely and efficiently. Ms. Fuller did say “I would not want to raise these taxes,” referring to local property taxes.

    The election took place in April 2007. In August 2007, just four months later, all Wichita school board members, including those mentioned above, voted to increase taxes. It didn’t take long for Kevass Harding to reverse his position. It didn’t take long for Barb Fuller to overcome her dislike for raising taxes. Power has a way of doing these things.

    In February 2008, all members except Jeff Davis approved the idea of a $350 million bond issue, asking voters to decide the issue. There is no doubt, however, what position the board members take on the necessity of the bond issue and its tax increase. And before you get the impression that Mr. Davis was overtaken by a sudden wave of wisdom regarding tax increases, he voted no only because he felt his district wasn’t slated to get enough. He later changed his vote.