By NICK BUDD
Hays Post

Outgoing Hays City Commissioner Kent Steward proposed a new, shortened economic development policy at Thursday night’s work session as commissioners continue to talk about revamping the city’s Community Improvement District policy.

Steward voted against the 1-percent tax increase at the mall in November.

Steward’s revision reads:

“The city will welcome new businesses and business expansion by working cooperatively with business owners to expedite compliance with city regulations as efficiently and inexpensively as possible. … With good intentions, the State of Kansas and the federal government have created various funding mechanisms that allow for the City of Hays: 1. to collect taxes and give those public funds to private entities and 2. to allow private entities to forgo paying taxes, with the result that the taxpaying public, in effect has to pay the taxes of those private entities. Both of those funding mechanisms are bad public policy. They are intrinsically unfair, but more importantly, they do the opposite of what is intended: they discourage economic activity and the creation of jobs. By propping up weak businesses with financial handouts, governmental units interfere with the free market and create competitive disadvantage for healthy businesses. Therefore, the city of Hays will not allow the use of public funds to stimulate private businesses.

“The effect would be to not put unnecessary regulations in peoples way and to help them in the process of complying with regulations, but to prevent businesses from collecting taxpayer dollars.”

The current economic development policy can be found HERE.

Steward, who serves as Fort Hays State University’s director of University Relations, announced recently he will not seek re-election to this Hays City Commission in April.