Missouri to hold special session on aid for tornado victims plus Chiefs and Royals stadiums
By DAVID A. LIEB
Associated Press
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers are to kick off a special session Monday to consider aid for tornado victims and a package of financial incentives aimed at keeping the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals from leaving the state for new or improved facilities in neighboring Kansas.
Gov. Mike Kehoe announced the special session Tuesday, less than two weeks after a deadly tornado hit St. Louis and the Legislature wrapped up its work without giving final approval to a late-developing plan that would authorize state bonds for the Chiefs and Royals valued at up to half the cost of the stadium projects.
Missouri officials are scrambling to come up with an offer because Kansas lawmakers last year authorized bonds for up to 70% of the cost of new stadiums, paying them off over 30 years with revenues from sports betting, Kansas Lottery ticket sales, and new sales and alcohol taxes.
“If Missouri does not put some sort of offer forward,” Kehoe said, “I think the risk is real that they don’t stay here.”
The Chiefs and Royals have played professional football and baseball for five decades in side-by-side stadiums in eastern Kansas City in Jackson County, Missouri, drawing fans from both sides of the split metropolitan area. Their stadium leases run until 2031, and Royals owner John Sherman has said the team won’t play at Kauffman Stadium beyond the 2030 season.
Jackson County voters turned down a sales tax extension last year that would have helped finance a $2 billion ballpark district for the Royals in downtown Kansas City and an $800 million renovation of the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium. That prompted Kansas officials to put together an offer and forced Missouri officials to recalculate their plans.
The Chiefs and Royals are part of a new round of stadium construction that is underway for professional sports teams across the U.S., with taxpayers often helping to pay the multibillion-dollar tabs. Many economists contend public funding for stadiums isn’t worth it, because sports tend to divert discretionary spending away from other forms of entertainment rather than generate new income.
But Kehoe said the teams drive “billions of dollars in economic activity and tourism.” Supporters of the projects also point to the sense of community and national attention that sports teams can bring, noting the three recent Super Bowls won by the Chiefs and the Royals’ World Series title a decade ago.
The proposal would allow Missouri to make 30 years of bond payments equal to the annual state tax revenue generated by the teams in the year before their application for state aid. It also authorizes up to $50 million of tax credits for the stadium projects. Local governments also would have to provide some aid for the teams. The location and total cost of the projects are not specified in the proposal.
The prospects for a special session are uncertain because of tensions in the Missouri Senate. In the final days of the regular session, majority Republicans used rare procedural moves to shut down Democratic opposition and force passage of two measures. One repeals a paid sick leave law approved last November by voters. The other authorizes a referendum on repealing a voter-approved abortion-rights amendment. Democrats vowed to retaliate by slowing down the Senate for a year to come.
The day after the Legislature wrapped up its work, tornadoes struck St. Louis and other parts of Missouri, capping a series of severe storms that also caused damage in March and April. Kehoe is proposing a $5,000 income tax deduction to help offset the cost of insurance policy deductibles for affected people and $25 million to expand eligibility for a state emergency housing assistance program for people living in areas covered by state requests for presidential disaster declarations.
Kehoe’s special session agenda also includes spending on constructions projects around the state, including $25 million to help fund a research nuclear reactor at the University of Missouri. That’s half the amount that was included in a budget bill that failed to pass the House amid concerns about state spending and conflicts with the Senate. Other proposed projects include a 200-bed mental health facility in Kansas City and new livestock barns at the Missouri State Fairgrounds.
