By NICK BUDD
Hays Post
Simply banning future community improvement districts within the city of Hays was just one of several ideas brought up during Thursday night’s discussion over the city’s Community Improvement District Policy. The discussion was sparked after the Hays City Commission approved a CID at the Hays mall by a vote of 3-2 in November.
The Community Improvement District Act, also known as House Bill 2324, was passed by the state Legislature and signed into law by then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in 2009. The law is broad, allowing municipalities to regulate their policy. Communities can default to state law, provide their own regulations or simply remove CIDs altogether. Commissioner Eber Phelps voted for the measure as a member of the Legislature.
The city’s policy allows the establishment of a CID for “reimbursable expenses in the amount of $250,000 or greater in order to promote economic development and tourism within the city … to be reimbursed on a pay-as-you-go basis for such costs from the city’s receipt of CID sales tax revenues or special assessment revenues.”
Outgoing commissioner Kent Steward not only proposed banning any more CIDs but also suggested revising the economic development policy. His two-paragraph revision would eliminate any sort of incentives that involve giving taxpayer money to any private entity or any “handouts” that relieve them from paying taxes.
“This would compel us to eliminate any unnecessary regulations that are in peoples way and to help them in the process of complying with regulations,” Steward said. “If you believe that (CIDs) are inherently wrong in the first place, than changing the proportion doesn’t really address the problem.”
Commissioners Shaun Musil and Ron Mellick each proposed ideas that would limit the amount of a project that could be funded by the CID. Mellick proposed a 70 percent limit and Musil proposed a 50 percent limit and a limitation on the amount of CIDs that could be implemented.
“If we eliminate the policy, we’re going to find ourselves falling behind,” Mellick said. “The CID is the least stressful on the city, because we don’t have any liability.”
Musil added come residents have asked about Garden City’s economic growth, and Phelps added that community has directly invested as much as $800,000 to attract business growth.
Commissioners agreed to revisit the policy once city staff researched policies that were implemented by similar municipalities.