UG presents IRB, TIF, TDD and CID activity; staff urges better job and compliance reporting

CFO Shelley Knievin told commissioners that Wyandotte County has 49 active Industrial Revenue Bonds (IRBs) — 47 with property-tax abatement — and that certified private investment tied to those IRB projects totals about $2.0 billion.

Knievin said the UG collects negotiated payment-in-lieu schedules from abated projects and distributes those revenues proportionately to taxing jurisdictions. She noted that historically the UG had not required standardized job-reporting from IRB beneficiaries and proposed strengthening compliance requirements in future incentive policies so the UG can better measure job creation, wages and residency of hires. "We know they've invested those dollars. We know they've created jobs, but we're gonna do better in getting what those estimated job creations are," she said.

The CFO also summarized TIFs (eight active, primarily east-side), transportation development districts (six) and 17 active community improvement districts. She stressed that most bond and district structures do not carry UG backing (the financial risk rests with bond buyers), with a few historic exceptions. Commissioners urged staff to build those compliance demands into model development agreements and to provide the commission with a schedule of upcoming expirations so that revenue resets can be planned into the UG’s forecast.