A new report ranks Kansas City near the bottom of the largest cities in the U.S. for financial health due mostly to a high debt burden.
The report comes as city leaders are considering an $800 million bond proposal to take care of deferred maintenance of roads, bridges and sidewalks.
"It's not sexy, it's not pretty, but it's absolutely essential to the quality of making sure this remains a first class city," said Kansas City Mayor Sly James.
Mayor James says it's not only important, but every citizen's satisfaction survey puts those infrastructure needs at the top of the list.
"These are the things that people have been complaining about in Kansas City for years, decades even, and we have an opportunity to address that here," said Kansas City Third District Councilman Quinton Lucas.
But according to a new report from the California Policy Center published in the Fiscal Times, Kansas City ranks 101 out of the 116 largest U.S. cities.
The reason cited in the study is the city's high debt load.
"The city has been warned about this for years," said Patrick Tuohey of the Show Me Institute. "This is not just something new that has popped up on the radar," he said.
One example of a similar finding came from the mayor's 2012 Commission on Revenue.
That commission found Kansas City's per resident debt was the highest compared to eight other peer cities at more than $3,300 per person.
That figure in that study is higher than St. Louis, Denver and well above the national average of $194 per resident.
A more recent report from the bond rating company Moody's found Kansas City's debt per person is $3,675.
That same 2012 Revenue Commission report supported the mayor's then $1 billion bond proposal for infrastructure, which did not happen.
But the commission noted nearly five years ago, "the city needs a disciplined approach to funding infrastructure maintenance or risk facing the same costly backlog again.
Tuohey points to projects like the streetcar and giving tax breaks to developers as part of the reason for the city's high debt.
"People get elected to city council and they apparently imagine themselves as railroad tycoons or hotel magnates when really their job is to cut grass and repair the roads," he said.
Mayor James says it's long past time to fix the city's crumbling infrastructure.
"And if we don't do it today, it will be twice as much in ten years," he said.
According to the nonprofit, Tax Foundation, Kansas City's taxes are also relatively high.
It's one of the few cities with an earnings tax.
And the Tax Foundation found Kansas City had the 15th highest sales tax out of the 50 largest U.S. cities.
The proposed bond would be repaid with an increase in property taxes.
A study from the Brookings Institute with an interactive map shows Jackson County, Missouri ranks 810 out of more than 3100 U.S. counties in property taxes.
