KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva covers stories in the Northland. She also focuses on issues surrounding immigration. Share your story idea with Fernanda. She worked to get new information on situation involving the Kansas City Public Schools and the Country Club Plaza. The story includes a long letter from the school district that shares concerns about how much money the school district will receive during the redevelopment of the iconic shopping district.
Kansas City Public Schools is pushing back against a proposed 30-year tax exemption for the Country Club Plaza development, calling the plan "malpractice" in a letter obtained by KSHB.
The letter, sent by the KCPS superintendent Jennifer Collier to Port KC and city leaders, expresses the district's opposition to the tax incentive proposal from Dallas-based Gillon Property Group, which owns the Plaza. The district says it is "distressed" by the plan.
You can read it at the end of this article.
Reporter Charlie Keegan reported in November that Plaza owners, Dallas-based Gillon Property Group, asked not to pay property taxes for 30 years.
Instead of paying property taxes to taxing jurisdictions, the Plaza is proposing to make alternate payments to the same jurisdictions.
In the letter, KCPS says the Plaza would pay the district less annually for 30 years than it paid last year.
The Plaza says they are in conversations with KCPS — and that they've heard concerns and are working to adjust for "continued collaboration." You can read their full statement at the end of this story.
I reached out to Port KC for comment, but they were not available on Friday. The Port KC agenda for Monday’s meeting doesn’t have the Plaza incentives listed.
David Price, president of the Kansas City Federation of Teachers and School-Related Personnel, believes not discussing it on Monday is a strategic decision.
Price said that the possible loss in revenue would impact the district.
"That's how we fund our schools,” Price said. "The biggest impact is that if we don't have a fully-funded public education system in the city.”
He says it would also affect retaining and hiring educators.
“If we keep on getting the same amount of money that we're getting right now, we can't increase salaries at all. So we can't keep up with surrounding districts,” Price said.
Francisco Rubalcapa has an eighth grade student and is concerned about local schools.
"You've got to think about the teachers. They need more raises,“ he said. "That's the future of the city — our kids. So they need good classrooms, good education, and new innovation."
He’s not the only father concerned.
Austin Carrill is the father of a 10-month-old baby. She's too young to attend Kansas City Public Schools — but that might be in her future.
"I love the Country Club Plaza, but I think public education is a far better investment,” Carrill said.
Read below the full letter written by the Superintendent of Kansas City Public Schools (KCPS):
Kansas City Public Schools knows for our city to succeed, we must invest in our children. This is why, for many years, KCPS has advocated for economic development practices that treat the district like a true partner instead of an afterthought. This has been a continued struggle.
We have long expected to be given a seat at the table in the negotiations for the future of the Country Club Plaza, as the developers are seeking a substantial redirection of potential public-school dollars. KCPS certainly appreciates that the Plaza is an important cultural and economic hub for our city — it is one of the largest contributors to our local funding. Without appropriate contributions to the school district over the life of the project, a tax exemption would be more than inappropriate; it would be malpractice. In the complex and often opaque discussion about property tax incentives and developments, it can sometimes get lost that when we over-incentivize projects, there is a real impact on funding for our schools.
Simply put, we cannot pay our teachers more if our local revenues do not increase. We cannot pay our bond back on the timeline promised to taxpayers if the Plaza is not participating.
This project was originally scheduled to go for a vote at the November Port meeting, just days after the taxing jurisdictions had met to review the project with the development team for the first time. The district was distressed about the proposed 30-year, 100-percent tax exemption and the lack of information and analysis accompanying the request. As an increasing number of development projects have sought tax breaks from Port KC in recent years, KCPS has continued to call for more robust transparency and accountability.
The Port KC board held the project during their November meeting, which the district appreciated. In the time since, KCPS has had positive conversations with several Port board members, but they have not yet had any concrete information from Port staff or the development team to share with the district. KCPS met with the development team and Port staff on Friday, November 21. In the meeting on the 21st, the district requested information on the incentive approval timeline and specific pieces of financial analysis, including information about estimated assessment levels and parcel-level data. KCPS leadership also re-iterated the need for the district to see a financial benefit on the increased valuation, especially the new construction. KCPS has not received any of that information nor been brought back to the table to discuss an updated proposal with Port staff or the development team. We have not yet been able to determine if the project is going forward for a vote at Monday’s Port meeting and have been told that Port KC remains in negotiations with the development team. KCPS has not been able to have any additional negotiations of our own.
With the pressure of such a tight timeline, KCPS initially proposed a very modest 30 percent PILOT payment on the valuation increases, which would have still given the developer substantial savings with a 70 percent tax break, while also ensuring Kansas City kids have a share in this community investment. We consider this the floor, not the ceiling.
The district is distressed about the proposed tax schedule, which prematurely sets the exemption starting this year (with a PILOT payment rate that is lower than the taxes the property paid in 2024) and having it run for three decades. The district estimates what they have proposed to pay us every year for the next 30 years is less than what they paid us last year.
The district is also extremely troubled that the Country Club Plaza appears to not participate in the senior services tax and the KCPS GO Bond. The bond, the district’s first in nearly 60 years, passed overwhelmingly at 85 percent, showing an enthusiastic level of support for our public schools from our residents — we would hope to see this from the development community as well. Our taxpayers voted to pay more in taxes to support Kansas City’s kids, can’t the development community make the same commitment? If the Plaza is not contributing to the bond for 30 years, it means it never will, and the bond repayment becomes a greater burden for our residential taxpayers. KCPS needs documentation that this project will not be abandoning our children, our teachers, our seniors, and our taxpayers. We expect to be held whole on any capital bond amounts, having it increase in line with valuation increases.
The Plaza ownership group and city officials have said they want this to be a project where everyone benefits. Everyone includes Kansas City’s children. Without the above changes, it seems unlikely there will be meaningful benefit to the children of Kansas City.
The development attorneys on this project have claimed their clients need tax certainty. Is that more important than increasing funding for our students and our teachers? Is that more important than making sure our commercial taxpayers make increased investments in our schools just as our residential taxpayers do? Recent disruptions at the federal level, potential changes to the state funding formula, and local reductions in property tax revenue have created uncertainty for our school system. The most certain, and best, investment we can make as a community is a sustained investment in our kids.
Read below the full statement sent by the Country Club Plaza:
“Country Club Plaza continues to have conversations with taxing jurisdictions including KCPS related to PILOT payments associated with the redevelopment of Country Club Plaza. Through continued collaboration we believe a path forward for all parties can be achieved.”
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