Community Improvement Districts

[moderne]

I see that River Market is setting up an improvement district like the one that has been established downtown and that the one downtown is going to have to be renewed.  How are these funded?  Are residential buildings assessed?  It sure has made a big difference in the amount of litter in the streets

[dangerboy]

I believe it's usually just commercial buildings, but in theory could be any property.  The tax could be a sales tax, a property tax, or some other assessment on the property or business.  The Westport CID uses both a sales tax and property assessment.

http://www.kcmo.org/planning.nsf/web/ec ... endocument

[KCPowercat]

all property owners within the district are charged a small % property tax.  residents and commercial

[dangerboy]

all property owners within the district are charged a small % property tax.  residents and commercial

True, but the district boundaries are often drawn up so they only included commercial property, e.g. the W. 39th St. CID.

[staubio]

As a River Market resident, I say bring on the tax, as long as they are as good as the loop troops have been.  The activity and oversight will be a very positive thing for the neighborhood.

[Tosspot]

This may sound ridiculous, but I wouldn't mind getting something like this going in the Plaza, as I'm fed up with getting asked for money every damn day I go there.

[KCPowercat]

Danger....oh I thought he was asking about the downtown districts specifically.

It doesn't say but I thought they were just going to extend the DCID...seems silly not to, cut down on administrative costs, etc.

The DCID is one of the best investments landowners downtown have ever done.  I've been requesting they run 24 hours...or at least until 3-3:30 when the bars close.

[KCLofts]

If it passes, it will be assessed to everyone - residents and businesses alike.  Or more accurately, any property owner.  It encompasses the entire market area from west of Braodway over to HOA bridge, I-70 to the river.  Only thing not included is the railroad property.

Sean O'Byrne & company from the downtown council made a sales pitch to our building at a recent Homeowner's meeting.

The River Market CID would be an expansion of the current downtown CID and would be run as essentially a single unit.

The projected tax increase wasn't too bad.  We had to sign and return the form that had exact amount on it.  But I think it was less than $100 per year per unit.  The exact calculation is $0.2369 per $100 of assessed value (55% of the total) and $0.05574 per site square foot (45% of the total).

It appeared that everyone in my building was in favor of the assessment.  They were planning to have this kick off this spring.

[dangerboy]

Biz Journal says today that the River Market CID has been approved.  It's a district from the loop CID, but the River Market Business Association is contracting with the Downtown Council to run their CID, so in effect it will look like one big district.

[KCMax]

Good to hear about Oppenstein Park and Case Park being cleaned up.

Downtown district sprucing up

The men and women in black and yellow who have made downtown Kansas City a much more welcoming place the past few years are seeking an encore.

Kansas City was late in adopting a Downtown Community Improvement District. Many large cities had had them for years. But since hitting the street in April 2003, the private work force has proven its worth in very measurable ways: collecting more than 40,000 bags of litter, removing 5,000 graffiti tags and answering more than 32,000 calls for service.

More than statistics, however, is the strong impression that someone cares about how downtown looks and feels these days, a marked shift from a few years ago when property owners were locked in a fruitless standoff with City Hall about who was responsible for keeping the place up.

Just the other day, lunch at Oppenstein Brothers Memorial Park was a pleasant place for me to discuss downtown’s revival with a newcomer to Kansas City. The park was well-kept, and people felt comfortable. Not long ago the tiny oasis at 12th and Walnut streets was a tired hangout used mostly by transients.

The black-and-yellow worker bees also have transformed Case Park, another formerly neglected park.

[moderne]

Just received the packet with the petition to renew the downtown CID.  What an ungainly cumbersome mess!  It costs $9.40 to mail this to every property owner in the loop.  The biggest weight item was 65 pages listing every property(including every condo unit) affected.  The petition signatures must be notarized.  I can imagine a lot of people are not going to bother and will just toss the mess in the trash.  What happens if the majority of owners does not respond?  Hopefully they can get this legislation amended so that they just can deal with the various condo boards.

[KCFan]

If they don't get enough owners to respond, the CID would end.

[moderne]

Anyone get there property tax bills?  $200.00 assessment for the community improvement district.

[moderne]

Guess I shouldn't complain, only $76.00 in actual tax, love that abatement.

[KCPowercat]

can't find anywhere else to post this, but all day today a DCID employee was doing pedestrian counts at 10th & Baltimore...this is a great idea for recruiting businesses....wonder how extensive the count will be?

[DaveKCMO]

can't find anywhere else to post this, but all day today a DCID employee was doing pedestrian counts at 10th & Baltimore...this is a great idea for recruiting businesses....wonder how extensive the count will be?

thank god you noticed and posted this. i was wondering what they were doing on my walk home. i thought something might be wrong (crime-wise), but it's good to know that's not the case.

[RiverMarketDweller]

Anyone get there property tax bills?  $200.00 assessment for the community improvement district.

If I was told my building was 0% why is my "A/V Principal-Residential" still $11?

[K.C.Highrise]

Yeah my tax was outrageous ($56), I thought they said 100% tax abated!

[CrossroadsKid]

PIEA tax abatement (what most downtown condos have if they have abatement) is an abatement of 100% of the taxes on the improvements.  Therefore, you still pay taxes on the land.

[FangKC]

I saw in the Business Journal that downtown Kansas City, KS, is in the process of setting up a CID.