Anyone who thought, during last year’s municipal election campaign, that Quinton Lucas might be a bold mayor when it came to TIF projects and tax hikes should now be thoroughly disabused of the notion.
Less than six months into his first term, it’s clear the special interests — primarily the fire fighters’ union and the big developers and their attorneys — are pulling his chain just as they have been pulling the chains of most mayors and City Council members for generations.
During the campaign against former City Councilwoman Jolie Justus, Lucas made noises like he would rein in the development incentives, and he indicated he would oppose tax-hike proposals. At a debate sponsored by The Star, he said: “There are two things Kansas City doesn’t really need more of — more taxes and more task forces.”
And what have we seen?
Well, in the biggest test so far on development incentives, he voted against a big subsidy for the 25-story Strata office tower proposed for 13th and Main streets, but he declined to veto the measure, which passed with a bare majority of seven votes. A veto — the true test of a mayor’s commitment to principle — would have killed the subsidy.
And then, last week, when the Council voted to put a $21-million, quarter-cent sales tax before voters, Lucas was conveniently out of town. If voters approve the new tax in April, the revenue would be used to fund Fire Department equipment and station improvements.
Reached by The Star after the vote, Lucas sounded nothing like an opponent of new taxes, saying, lamely, that the Fire Department “has asked for an opportunity to explain to the public the rationale for a tax increase.”
The Council’s approval of the sales-tax vote was outrageous for two reasons. First, it is a naked payback to Local 42 of the International Association of Fire Fighters for their support of Lucas and most of the Council members who were elected in June. Second, Council members pushed it through the introduction-discussion-approval process — which can take weeks or even months — in one week!
An expedited — really expedited — process at City Hall is a sure sign the rails have been greased.
The Council member out front with the grease gun was Katheryn Shields, a longtime friend of the fire fighters’ union. Shields, who was re-elected from the 4th District at large in June, will not face voters again in 2023 because she will be term limited. (Actually, she’ll be term limited for the second time because years ago she served two four-year terms and after that served two terms as Jackson County executive.)
For Shields, then, this was a free shot. For Lucas, the election will take place early enough in his first term that most voters probably will have forgotten it by the time he comes up for re-election in 2023.
It sure does stink, though…Before last week, there was zero discussion about the Fire Department needing new equipment or station upgrades. All this amounts to is Local 42 calling in the chits and the Council ponying up.
The final indignity to the public is that the Council enhanced the chances of passage by putting the sales-tax proposal on a special-election ballot in April, when turnout will be extremely light. They didn’t want to put it on either of the two general-election ballots this year — the August primary or, God forbid, the November general election, when turnout will be at its greatest by far.
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If some of you have been wondering what happened with the David Jungerman trial — which was scheduled to get underway last week — it got pushed back.
In a recent ruling, Jackson County Circuit Judge John Torrence re-scheduled the trial for May 26 at the Independence courthouse.
In his order, Torrence attributed the delay to “the significant amount of discovery to complete.”
Torrence has also rejected the defense’s motion for a change of venue, which, if granted, would have either moved the trial to another jurisdiction or would have meant selecting a jury elsewhere and transporting the jury back to Jackson County for the trial.
In his ruling, Torrence said, “The defendant’s evidence failed to demonstrate either a ‘pattern of deep and bitter prejudice’ or ‘a wave of public passion’ that would make the seating of an impartial jury impossible.”
…The delay doesn’t surprise me a bit. This is a complicated case, and the defendant is a multi-millionaire with two high-paid attorneys. At first, Jungerman, who is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of lawyer Thomas Pickert — was squawking about wanting a speedy trial. After he came to realize just how strong the state’s case was, however, he began putting on the brakes.
I don’t think the delay is going to hurt the prosecution. This is primarily a circumstantial-evidence case, and the circumstances aren’t going anywhere. I am confident Jungerman will spend the rest of his life in a small room with bars.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
I criticize the Star enough, so let me be among the first to congratulate the paper and Dave Helling, who undoubtedly wrote this morning’s editorial. I’ll call attention to three excerpts:
1) “The funds from the tax (total) $315 million over 15 years.”
2) “The council had more than four months to consider the plan in the sunshine. It did not. Council members waited until the very last minute.”
3) “The Kansas City Council’s decision to ram through a sales tax for the April ballot sets a new low in secrecy and mendacity for a governing body too often known for both.”
https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/article239622078.html
Helling and Colleen are outstanding; they’re always looking out for the best interests of taxpayers. And increased sales taxes are particularly galling to Helling, as they should be to most thinking taxpayers…It will be interesting to see what Freedom Inc. does on this tax. My guess is they will take the money and run…
I would think that since fire departments protect property that a property tax is a more appropriate source of revenue (assuming it’s needed. ) Just as Jim and I learned on a proposed sales tax for roads, I bet the firefighters polled and found the public more willing to pay a sales tax — that is until they are educated.
The voters sure weren’t willing to pay a sales tax on the Pre-K issue (a “regressive tax” as it was referred to). And I think Jolie Justus was the only candidate for mayor who supported it; the other candidates opposed Pre-K on the basis of the regressive sales tax (and the governance issue).
It never ceases to amaze me that public safety always seems to be the last thing in the budget instead of the first. It’s like saying you bought Royals tickets with your paycheck and then have to work overtime to pay the light bill and buy groceries. And yet the media never seem to ask why that wasn’t taken care of to begin with and the taxpayers are stupid enough to reward this horrendous list of priorities.
If public safety is the last thing in the budget, it’s a pretty-darn-big last thing. From the city website: “The $1.73 billion adopted (2019-20) budget increases public safety expenditures over the current year. Public safety accounts for over 75 percent of the General Fund operating budget.”