The release of major policy proposals days before scheduled votes aren’t attempts to stifle public input into the process, officials with Shawnee County and the city of Topeka said Friday.
Officials from both organizations described the votes set for Monday’s and Tuesday’s meetings as the beginning of the discussions.
“I don’t think there’s any lack of transparency,” city manager Jim Colson said of Topeka’s plans to issue STAR bonds for Heartland Park Topeka. “It’s a complex deal that has several legal and financial potentials, and we have addressed it in a way that I think serves the city well.”
The city of Topeka at 5:11 p.m. Thursday sent out a news release revealing the city’s plans to issue about $4.7 million in Sales Tax Revenue Bonds to expand the district around Heartland Park. Two votes to go forward on the item are set for Tuesday.
The plan would involve a total debt service of $6.3 million and would be finalized in February 2015, when Jayhawk Racing would sign over its interest in the motorsports facility to the city. In the meantime, the city would pursue someone to purchase or operate the complex, with the hope that someone would step forward before the city closes on the property.
And Shawnee County, with the release of its agenda for Monday’s meeting, unveiled a proposed ballot for the half-cent sales tax extension.
The proposed ballot would extend the countywide half-cent sales tax for 15 years and includes 14 items — economic development, the Kansas Expocentre and 12 street projects.
Missing from that are multiple items identified as priorities through three town hall meetings, a survey and a resolution from the city council that included the Topeka Zoo, quality of life improvements and several Topeka street projects. The council also recommended the extension be no more than 12 years.
Doug Anstaett, executive director of the Kansas Press Association, questioned Friday why those items were being rushed to votes.
“These kinds of decisions are of too much importance to be made in the heat of the moment, especially when it’s not necessary,” he said. “Good government is not about the merits of a particular decision but about the process used to arrive at that decision. Yes, Heartland Park is a community asset, but did the council have to make this decision that quickly, without allowing members of the taxpaying public to weigh in? I don’t think so.”
Topeka Mayor Larry Wolgast said the city council has talked several times behind closed doors in executive sessions about the Heartland Park issue and noted that Tuesday’s votes would just be the first steps in an extended process.
County counselor Rich Eckert said the situation was similar for the proposed countywide half-cent sales tax extension.
In fact, he said, Monday’s vote is to approve a ballot and interlocal agreement that would be sent over to the city council. After a vote from the city council, the resolution would come back to the commission again before it could act to put the question on the ballot.
Eckert said: “There shouldn’t be any transparency issues with this because there’s still a lot of back and forth to come. This process has been much more transparent than it was back in 2004.”
City and county officials in 2004 revealed the contents of the ballot question proposal on May 28, then county commissioners voted June 1 to schedule the August election in which the question were approved.
Eckert said that if this year’s proposed were to go to a vote in November, the ballot technically doesn’t have to be completed until after the August primary election.
“This is how we start the discussion,” he said. “There’s still plenty of time.”
The proposed ballot does show some signs officials have been listening to the public, Eckert said, adding that several of the projects initially presented in November were replaced, and the tax was reduced from a 20-year extension to 15. Losing five years of revenue, however, meant something had to go.
The council’s votes Tuesday are to approve an agreement with Jayhawk Racing Properties and a memorandum of understanding between the city, state and Jayhawk Racing. If the council approves the measures, it still would need to take multiple steps expected to take until early next year, including expanding the STAR Bond District, approving a notice of intent to issue the bonds and issuing the bonds.
Public notice and hearings are a required part of those processes, said Jeff White, of Columbia Capital, the company that serves as the city’s financial adviser.
Colson said in an interview Friday that the issues with Heartland Park have been a concern of his since he started in August 2012.
“When I got here I was briefed on all the boulders that were on the side of the road that looked like that they were going to fall down,” he said. “The debt service of Heartland Park was very high on that list of things we needed to look at.”
City attorney Chad Sublet indicated the plan for Heartland Park has been developed during the past year and has involved consideration of at least 10 different financial models.
“These deals take a long time to put together and negotiate,” he said. “So this has been going on for quite a while. This is not something that was just thought of and thrown at the council.”
In fact, one of the council’s action items on Tuesday’s agenda involves considering approving an agreement between CoreFirst Bank and Trust, Jayhawk Racing Properties LLC, Heartland Park Raceway and the city that became effective on April 25.