Kansas, Missouri battle over companies

[KCMax]

Not KC, but Wichita lost Boeing.

[warwickland]

Federal Savings Bank moves headquarters to Chicago

The Federal Savings Bank has moved its headquarters from Overland Park, Kansas, to Chicago, bringing 100 new jobs to the city, according to an announcement by the mortgage company and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

In 2012, the bank opened a national home loan center in Chicago, an addition that created more than 300 new jobs, including lenders, processors and underwriters. That home-loan center was funded in part by state and local incentives, but the bank said it’s not receiving any breaks for the new relocation of its headquarters.

Steve Calk, chairman and chief executive of The Federal Savings Bank, cited Chicago’s infrastructure, transportation access and talent pool in making the move.

The headquarters will be located at 300 N. Elizabeth St., where the company already has operations, said Calk, who is among the company’s military veteran owners.

The Federal Savings Bank is accepting applications for administrative, accounting and finance positions.

Federal Savings Bank has about 600 employees in 10 offices.

Article: http://www.chicagotribune.com

[Highlander]

Lane Christensen moved from Fairway to Houston last year. That was several hundred high paying jobs. A real lose-lose for KC and the employees (Houston's not a nice place to live).

[Eon Blue]

The LC move was more to be near the oil & gas industry center than for incentives, no?

[Highlander]

The LC move was more to be near the oil & gas industry center than for incentives, no?

Yea, no incentives in the LC move. Houston is the unchallenged center of the oil and gas industry.

[KCMax]

So the economic border war is good for Kansas City? Of course, that would be the perspective of a commercial real estate agent.

http://www.kansascity.com/2014/02/19/48 ... -hurt.html

1.

The fact is that companies are often required to move due to other factors, such as outgrowing or needing to upgrade their space, or losing their lease – not just to receive incentives.

So they don't need the incentives, right?

2.

I would argue that while these 3,000 jobs may not have been “net new” to the metro area, no jobs were not lost either.

Except we don't know that. There is no way to know one way or the other if a company would have laid people off but for the incentive. Its a leap of faith.

I would further argue that successful organizations like these have organic growth

Uh...if its so organic, why does it need subsidy?

3.

But the truce will not prevent the use of locally sourced taxpayer-funded subsidies including Chapter 353, TIF, Chapter 100 bonds or Star bonds, all commonly used development tools in the metropolitan area.

Ah yes, the old "if you don't get rid of ALL of the problem, you shouldn't get rid of ANY of the problem" argument.

4.

The proposed border war “truce” will not alter the ability of local firms, who do not move across state line, to earn incentives under the very same State programs

I guess I'm not familiar with the proposed truce, but doesn't his previous sentence contradict this?

The proposed border war “truce” would only end the granting of State incentives to those businesses moving between any of four border counties in Kansas (Douglas, Johnson, Miami and Wyandotte) and four border counties in Missouri (Cass, Clay, Jackson and Platte).

I mean, I guess there's still an issue if Olathe poaches a Wichita company, but that's a matter of internal state policy, not a metro-concern.

[heatherkay]

no jobs were not lost

So wait, does that mean ALL jobs WERE lost?

[chaglang]

no jobs were not lost

So wait, does that mean ALL jobs WERE lost?

Both. Schrodinger's TIF.

[pash]

.

[chaglang]

Kansas leaves job subsidy data in the dark

Information compiled by Good Jobs First, a left-leaning national policy resource center based in Washington, D.C., revealed in late January that Kansas is one of only four states that do not provide any kind of data online for state economic development programs. ...

Auditors announced in September that a thorough examination had revealed the Kansas Department of Commerce had exceeded PEAK’s $6 million spending cap by authorizing $7.5 million in incentives for the current fiscal year, and surpassed the limit for the next decade by $22.5 million.

“We found assessing the benefits of the PEAK program is difficult because the Department of Commerce has not compiled meaningful information on the program,” state auditor Katrin Osterhaus told lawmakers while presenting the findings. ...

I can't find the article, but the Biz Journal reported in the last week or so that Republicans killed a bill that would have made Kansas's incentives programs subject to the state's open-records law.

It wouldn't be shocking if this turned into a major example of the waste/fraud/abuse the Republicans are always decrying. Of course, they would turn around and use it as another example of how government can't do anything right.

[KCMax]

Missouri Senate backs end to Kansas business battle

Truce bill passes out of committee in MO Senate.

[warwickland]

good to see Missouri taking the lead on this. unfortunately, trogdolytes in the KS state house probably view JoCo as their (only) golden goose, and will stop at nothing to continue with the job snatching. it's a strange situation...JoCo is supposed to belong to metropolitan Kansas City not Topeka, and is supposed to have KCMOs back at least some of the time. instead it's passing notes with the weirdos in shawnee county.

[knucklehead]

Trying to negotiate with Kansans is a fools errand.

In the past 100 years, Kansans have joined in exactly one bi-state effort - Union Station and they are still bitching about it.

The Kansas political strategy is to insult and demean the Missouri portions of the metro at every opportunity. That doesn't exactly promote reasonable compromise.

On the positive side - Johnson County serves as a very effective magnite for pretensious twits. Makes places like Lees Summit, Parkville and Liberty much nicer places to live.

[earthling]

trogdolytes in the KS state house probably view JoCo as their (only) golden goose

[flyingember]

On the positive side - Johnson County serves as a very effective magnite for pretensious twits. Makes places like Lees Summit, Parkville and Liberty much nicer places to live.

I'd agree with this. I know personally that Liberty has made an effort to maintain as much of a small town feel as it can.

[warwickland]

finger pointing/ name calling/ can go all around, even though it's fun. East-Jack has it's share of Monster Energy stickers on pickups to balance out 435 South Magazine or whatever (i think i just threw up a little). biggest problem is that it seems like the elected officials out of JoCo have sworn an oath to some vague idea of "Kansas," when in reality JoCo is *far* more "Kansas City" than "Kansas." many people in JoCo seem very confused as to where their true allegiance is. the fact that they happen to reside in kansas is secondary to the fact that they are in an important county of metro kansas city.

[Eon Blue]

finger pointing/ name calling/ can go all around, even though it's fun. East-Jack has it's share of Monster Energy stickers on pickups to balance out 435 South Magazine or whatever (i think i just threw up a little). biggest problem is that it seems like the elected officials out of JoCo have sworn an oath to some vague idea of "Kansas," when in reality JoCo is *far* more "Kansas City" than "Kansas." many people in JoCo seem very confused as to where their true allegiance is. the fact that they happen to reside in kansas is secondary to the fact that they are in an important county of metro kansas city.

Ask anyone who lives in any JoCo muni where they live and they're probably say, "Kansas." Ask anyone in any Missouri-side municipality and they'll probably say their actual city or even neighborhood. That's my anecdotal experience, anyways.

[flyingember]

People in Liberty always say Liberty. It's not even something people think about. Chouteau's landing was founded only the year before in 1821 and the Randolph post in 1819 so you have a city which is very centered around it's independent identity.

Shoal Creek is used heavily as a place one lives, but as an area it's always identified more with Liberty than downtown KC because the schools include both and there's shared commercial corridors, so this is about putting where one lives in context.

I use "Briarcliff" a lot to say where I live. It's also an area that predates KC by many years so it has a history behind the name.

Is there any similar history to part's of JoCo? Do people in Mission connect with local history more than the statewide identity?

[grovester]

I tell people I live in Merriam or the KC Metro. Merriam has a nice history with the Hocker Line and Hocker Grove and the connection with SW Blvd and Merriam Lane. Not sure why anyone in Johnson County would self identify with "Kansas" these days.

[warwickland]

inner joco reminds me a little of inner st. louis county (where i live), and like inner st. louis county, inner joco seems much more willing to identify as "KC" and is an important sort of auxillary that quietly feeds the center city. it doesnt make sense to paint either with a broad brush, although joco is definitely more associated (fair or not) with a stereotype of what is in fact just part of the entire county of 550k.

is 435 Magazine Kansas Citys "trying too hard slightly douchey scene mag?"

it is disturbing that they call themselves "kansas citys magazine."