The City of Wichita wishes to preserve the many economic development incentives it has at its disposal.
The proposed legislative agenda for the City of Wichita holds this regarding economic development incentives:
ISSUE: The State of Kansas provides economic development incentives through a variety of programs.
RECOMMEND: The Wichita City Council supports the continuation of state economic incentive programs that assist local governments in their efforts to improve their local economies.
That’s all the agenda holds. In the presentation for the previous year, the request was more complete, naming specific programs. It’s useful to revisit that list, as Wichita leaders often complain that Wichita doesn’t have enough “tools in the toolbox” to compete effectively in economic development.
In a way, I don’t blame the city for omitting the list this year. Part of the campaign for the proposed sales tax was that Wichita doesn’t have enough incentives to compete for jobs. In making that argument, city leaders use a narrow definition of incentive that doesn’t count the programs listed below. Given the poor results of the city’s economic development machinery, you can see why city leaders minimize the number of incentive programs and the amounts of money that are available.
Here are the programs listed in the previous legislative agenda that the city wants the legislature to protect. Some of these are so valuable that Kansas business leaders told the governor that they value these incentives more than they would value elimination of the state corporate income tax.
- GWEDC/GO WICHITA: Support existing statutory records exemptions
- Industrial Revenue Bond tax abatements (IRBX)
- Economic Development Exemptions (EDX)
- Tax Increment Financing (TIF)
- Sales Tax Revenue (STAR) Bonds
- Community Improvement Districts (CID)
- Neighborhood Revitalization Area (NRA) tax rebates
- Special Assessment financing for neighborhood infrastructure projects, facade improvements and abatement of asbestos and lead-based paint.
- State Historic Preservation Tax Credits (HPTC)
- State administration of federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC)
- High Performance Incentive Program (HPIP) tax credits
- Investments in Major Projects and Comprehensive Training (IMPACT) grants
- Promoting Employment Across Kansas (PEAK) program
- Economic Revitalization and Reinvestment Act bonding for major aviation and wind energy projects
- Kansas Industrial Training (KIT) and Kansas Industrial Retraining (KIR) grants
- Network Kansas tax credit funding
- State support for Innovation Commercialization Centers in Commerce Department budget