By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
The city of Hays is looking for ways to increase sales tax collections which support the city’s General Fund.
Sales tax collected was at an all-time high of $7,433,103 in 2015. The total collected in 2016 was down by 3.34% or $248,377. Collections for 2017 are on pace to remain flat or slightly below 2016 amounts.
Assistant Hays City Manager Jacob Wood presented a Retail Gap Analysis and Recruitment Request For Qualifications (RFQ) to Hays city commissioners during their work session Thursday night. The purpose of the RFQ is to obtain the services of a qualified firm to provide assistance with a Retail Market Study and Gap Analysis that would aid in retail attraction and development in Hays.
The city hasn’t been sitting still when it comes to “development across the board,” Wood noted.
“Some things we’ve done recently, not necessarily specifically for retail development, include adoption of the UDC (Unified Development Code), updating our development policy trying to make things a little easier for new developments.
“We also updated our economic development policy, streamlined everything so that the application is an easy process. That’s resulted in a couple of approved CIDs (Community Improvement Districts) the past couple of years–north of the JT Travel Plaza and TownPlace Suites (north of I-70). JT Travel Plaza has been open for over a year. The TownPlace Suites will be open in the next couple of months. “We also have a CID that’s sitting in place north of the Home Depot (also north of I-70) for 73,000 square feet of retail space.
“We have done some things trying to be pro-development and I do think we’ll see some additional requests for incentives in the near future,” said Wood.
“But with declining or stagnating sales tax we’re always looking for methods and ways to increase that retail base.”
Once the retail analysis is complete, the hired firm would represent the city in a retail recruiting effort.
“There’s no downside sending this RFQ out,” said Vice-Mayor James Meier. “We’re just going to listen to what people have to say.”
Commissioner Sandy Jacobs agreed, adding “I think there’s a lot of discussion once we get the information back.”
“We’ll have a lot of work to do to vet these firms to see who’s the right fit with our community,” Wood admitted. He told commissioners there’s no firm in the region which does this kind of work.
As far as Wood knows, Hays is the only city in Kansas to do this type of recruitment. “I used a couple models from a rural town in Iowa. I found one in Wyoming and in Oregon. I’m not aware of anyone in Kansas who has gone through this exact process.”
Commissioners Thursday night approved sending out the RFQ. Commissioner Henry Schwaller was absent from the work session.
Hays voters approved the 3/4 sales tax in 2004.