On last night I attended a city budget planning meeting at the Boys and Girls Club. At this meeting the topic being brought to the public was the proposed 1cent sales tax being pushed by the City Manager’s office and City Council. Council Lavonta Williams led the meeting and brought the people who have the answers to speak with us. The main gentlemen I spoke with was Tim Chase, CEcD of Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition. I am always appreciative when Government officials actually involve the people in their decision making, but what I hate is when a good idea is proposed as an all or nothing option. Currently, this particular plan is either you vote Yes to all of it, or No to all of it. The problem with that line of thinking is that we all can agree that Water is a big issue and needs to be handled. We can all agree that keeping our roads up with pavement treatments or new pavement is very important. I also believe we all can agree that our transit system is poor at best and wait times are ridiculous for the citizens who need or want to use that service. The big question in this proposed sales tax is the $80 million dollars being set aside for job development. As you may or may not know, I have been fighting for an increase in summer youth employment training program funds since the year 2005. In 2005, that program was funding through the Community Development Block Grant (Federal Dollars) and still currently us, but it was funded at the amount of $200,000. Since the year 2005 that money has been cut every year, and not the money is no longer up for bid from non-profit organizations, it is solely operated in the Housing Department. To completely transparent, the City of Wichita moved $25,000 into this fund and put it up for public bid, and the YMCA Job Prep program was awarded the full amount. I will not comment on the merits of the Job Prep program, but I previously also operated a summer youth employment training program that produced significant results until the organization I worked for lost funding and closed its doors. As you also may know, I have been working with Senator Oletha Faust-Goudeau to find a solution to the issue that small businesses in Wichita, and Kansas in general, face when trying to grow. Mainly small businesses in impoverished areas. Senate Bill 340 (SB 340). When the opportunity arrived, I asked a range of questions to Mr. Tim Chase regarding this $80 million dollars and the expected use. My questions specifically were: Will a portion of this, maybe 1 million dollars be used to create summer youth employment training programs? If not, why? Will this pool of dollars, that we all will have to pay into, be accessible to small businesses in Wichita to improve, build upon, and expand. Such as purchasing new equipment or improving their current location structurally or aesthetically? More specifically, in impoverished areas of town like this one (Northeast Wichita). Mr. Chase answered both questions with NO. He then explained that congress may approve a fund for summer jobs later in the year, but I had to explain that we can’t really use that as we should here in Wichita and that Congressman Pompeo has been unresponsive to requests for help on this matter. The Job Fund is only to bring in new businesses with incentives, which we did not get a clear answer what that word meant; or to give assistance to businesses that are exporters out of this State or Country. The logic behind it, as Mr. Chase put it, was this: Business A selling hamburgers to the public and Business B selling socks to the public only really affects the Wichita market at a low level. Business C that may sell an airplane to South America would bring hundreds of millions back to the local economy and that is our aim. This is a smoke and mirrors trick in my opinion. Boeing received millions in incentives, where are they now? Spirit receives millions in breaks and incentives, and although they have created some good paying jobs, they also continue to lay hundreds of people off. We are not seeing the benefits of Spirits Success because they have so many tax breaks that it doesn’t impact our City Budgets. The shortfall we have in monies that are needed to improve transit, water, and pavement would be in the bank if only these businesses paid their taxes. I am not advocating for high taxes on these businesses, but I am saying we will not see a benefit from that investment because those dollars will go to companies like Spirit that get so many breaks we will not see it come back as Mr. Chase said. You may ask, how I know this to be true. My reply is simple, this is the same method we have been seeing over the last decade. Where is the benefit? Why do we need raise taxes now to pay? Most importantly, when Mr. Chase was posed this question, he himself didn’t even have an answer. Not one example of when this type of investment has paid off. If Mr. Chase can’t give an example, then we do not need to have that fund be used in that manner. Why can we as a city not show that Summer Youth Employment is essential to future of our city? Why can we not move 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 million dollars to ensure that our youngest citizens have employment over the next decade? Job training to ensure they will be ready for the workforce, career development to get them thinking about careers, entrepreneurial training to get them thinking about being business owners, connections with local contractors to assist in renovating blighted areas and damaged homes. Why is it not important to invest in Wichitans who had the courage and resolve to start a business in Wichita, sell their products to Wichitans, and may have dreams of expanding someday. Those dollars can go a long way to help a business owner purchase new equipment like stoves, lawn mowers, computer equipment. These businesses then may have that boost to grow and become these exporters. Just think of what that will say about Wichita as a city, that we invest in our people…regardless of if they export or not. Just think of the job creation and rejuvenation that would happen in our most impoverished areas. We can no longer keep down the same path that has resulted in 1% job growth while neighboring cities see higher growth rates. Finally, this SHOULD NOT be an all or nothing vote. Each question should be on the ballot “Would you support a 1cent sales tax increase to fund an improved Transit System? Would you support a 1cent sales tax increase to fund an improved water system? Would you support a 1cent sales tax increase to fund an improved street paving system? Would you support a 1cent sales tax increase to fund a job development program?” I am conflicted on whether I would vote yes, because I know that $80 million dollars is about to be wasted once again to benefit some and not most of Wichita.
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 21:45:31 +0000
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