KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City, Missouri, City Council repealed a prior ordinance Thursday that had established a “Border War Truce” for economic development with Kansas.
The repeal comes after Missouri legislators considered a similar item earlier this year at the state level.
With the Kansas City area straddling the state line between Kansas and Missouri, leaders recognized that certain economic development projects, in which one part of the metro would incentivize a project in competition with another metro community. While one part would come out ahead, the benefits to the metro as a whole were less clear.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson agreed to the “truce” in 2019.
However, the truce has been on shaky footing since April 2024, when voters in Jackson County turned down sales tax funding for stadium projects for the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals. That prompted Kansas legislators to pass legislation to entice one or both of the clubs to relocate to Kansas.
KSHB 41 political reporter Charlie Keegan examined the nature of the truce in a June 2024 report that you can watch in the video player below.
“As a former Kansas resident in youth and as a long-term Kansas state employee, I value greatly all that our region means to our future, but under the present legal and economic development realities, the Border War Truce has not held,” Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas said in a release Thursday.
Kelly was asked about the nature of the truce as far back as 2022.
“When I signed the Border War truce with Missouri, it didn’t include the Chiefs,” Kelly said in March 2022.
Councilman Wes Rogers introduced Thursday’s ordinance in Kansas City. Rogers said he was in the legislature when the initial truce was reached and says the “region is better off when our city and both states work together.”
“Kansas City cannot stand by while development happens all around us,” Rogers said. “We will do what is required for our city to be a competitive place to conduct business.”
Lucas said Thursday’s action allows Kansas City “to support a healthy city and healthy region well into the future.”
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