Kansas City Makes Streetcar Tax Proposal Another Mail-In Affair

Posted on by Patrick Ishmael

While Clay Chastain’s light rail proposal likely will not be on the ballot in November, voters in Kansas City will have a rail plan to consider before winter officially arrives. Early last week, the city’s newly created streetcar development district board decided to hold a vote by mail in the next few months to determine whether a tax will be levied in the district to fund the trolley. That the vote is being conducted by mail-in ballot almost certainly assures the passage of the tax; the vote that created the district was conducted by mail as well, and passed with almost 70 percent of the vote with an effective turnout of less than 8 percent. (To be precise, 460 voters out of 5,900.)

That the city will re-use the means of voting most favorable to moving the proposal ahead is no surprise. The city has been foursquare behind the trolley proposal even after losing its bid for federal funding for the project. (Not that federal funding would have been a good reason to go forward with it.) And despite the funding gap for the starter line, there have already been discussions about adding southern and eastern extensions to this hitherto non-existent trolley. To be sure, business owners in the newly created trolley district will not be the last ox gored in the city’s quest for streetcars. This looks like a vanity project that will raise taxes in a city that is well above average in municipal taxation already. And the project will probably grow even larger from here.

The trolley voting period will likely conclude Dec. 11. Whether the result will be a Christmas surprise or a lump of coal depends on your perspective.

Show-Me Spend-O-Meter

Posted on by Michael Rathbone

The Show-Me Institute last week launched a video introducing one of the newest features on our website (www.showmeinstitute.org): the Spend-O-Meter. The Spend-o-Meter takes the state’s budget for the current fiscal year (which began in July) and breaks it down so that as the year progresses, the amount that the state “spent”  increases by the same amount every second.

Now, does the state really spend $766.53 per second ($24,173,327,268 fiscal year 2013 budget divided by 31,536,000 seconds in a year)? Not exactly. It is not like the state is literally writing a check every second of every day for the entire year for $766.53 and the state does not always spend all the money it is appropriated. However, the Spend-o-Meter does give a good illustration of the scale of the state’s spending. Just think about it, by the time someone finishes reading this post, the state will have, in effect, spent close to $46,000.

Now ask yourself, do you think you are getting your money’s worth? If not, the Show-Me Institute has discussed a couple of ways the state could save money. Check them out and check out the Spend-o-Meter as well.

Kansas City Adds Single Measure To November Ballot

Posted on by Patrick Ishmael

It has been a busy week for public officials in Kansas City. Yesterday, the Kansas City Council added one new item to this November’s ballot —a proposal that would raise the mandatory retirement age for municipal judges — but nixed three proposals that were of a more ambitious nature. The proposals that were axed?

  • A proposed $100 annual tax on billboards to help the city “deal with billboard blight.” Similar to an earlier idea that would have enacted a 2 percent tax on the revenues companies collected for outdoor signs, the $100 iteration was ultimately scuttled over concerns that the revenue generated would not actually fix the problem of billboards that, among other things, were blank “too long,” which could be as little as three months. Pretty sure “blank billboards” do not exactly rise to the level of pressing municipal issues in Kansas City. Apparently, given the functional and funding problems presented to the council in the proposal, city officials seemed to agree.

  • A proposal from a group called the “Peace Planters” which would have blocked any financial involvement by the city with manufacturers that produce nuclear weapons components. Curtailing municipal handouts is certainly good policy — after all, Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and other tax incentives are long-overdue for reform — but to prevent only one type of business on ideological grounds from going to the trough seems like just another way of picking winners and losers. Better to reform how all incentives are meted out than selectively change one minor aspect of a fundamentally bad policy.

  • Yet another proposal from eternal light rail advocate Clay Chastain to build a light rail system in Kansas City. Although Chastain’s promise to “go away” after years of activism if the council put his proposal on the ballot certainly had its allure, the council declined to take him up on the offer.

He Cannot Be Serious

Posted on by David Stokes

The other day, the Kansas City Star published a truly pathetic piece from a college instructor literally begging to be put on the dole. The author, Michael Borich, is demanding that adjunct college teachers be eligible for unemployment benefits. He needs to learn a little about economic reality.

In basic theory, workers offer services in exchange for wages. There is a set (yet always changing) demand for labor in any field. There are a number of people with the skills and desire to perform that labor in exchange for money. If the number of people with the skill and desire to perform a service is greater than the demand for that labor, wages in that field will go down. If, because of the reduced wages, certain workers leave that field, wages may go back up and the wage labor in that field will come to equilibrium. It works the other way, too.

But let me tell Mr. Borich how it does not work, or, at least, would not work unless the government interferes. When the supply of labor in a given field exceeds the demand for their work, not all individuals should be guaranteed employment. By his own admission, there are too many college adjuncts. This means we need fewer of them, not more adjuncts on government assistance. As the author himself explains:

This summer I was fortunate to be promised an English Composition class because more like me want to teach than there are classes.

Alas, enrollment was low; my class was canceled at the last minute.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/21/3772593/as-i-see-it-a-policy-unfair-to.html#storylink=cp

In a market with a labor surplus, some of those people will, over time, choose alternate jobs. Supply of labor will decrease and compensation for that labor will equalize. That is how it should work. But Mr. Borich wants a system where everyone gets to do what they want whether there is appropriate demand for it or not, and the government will intervene to ensure people do not have to make any hard choices.

Unfortunately, there are far more examples where the government interferes in market decisions instead of staying out of those decisions. Too many people have Mr. Borich’s attitude that the government should subsidize their choices rather than have them compete in the free market.

And do not even get me started on what happened to the stigma of being on public assistance. I am going to stop now before I get myself in trouble. Thanks to johncombest.com for the link.

Grading Public School Transparency: Does Rockwood Deserve An A+?

Posted on by Daniel Ritter

Last Tuesday, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported that the Rockwood School District (of which I am a graduate) received an A+ rating for “transparency” among the 10 largest school districts in Missouri. According to the Sunshine Review, a non-profit group that concentrates on state and local government accountability, Rockwood’s website met all of their criteria and provides information regarding taxes, budgets, meetings, elected officials, administrative officials, contracts, audits, public records, academics, and background checks.

Some may see Rockwood’s website as a model for school districts to follow, but taking a closer look at the site, it is not perfect. For example, if you want to review the superintendent’s or other personnel contracts, benefits, pensions, or records of communication (like e-mails between the superintendent, the president of the teachers’ union, school board members, and the board secretary), you will not find it on Rockwood’s website. Instead, you have to make a specific request for public records, and depending on the information, it could cost you more than $18,005.

Is this worthy of an A+?

No, and taxpayers deserve more. Former Show-Me Institute Policy Analyst Audrey Spalding is exactly right, “It Is Time To Increase Public School Transparency.” We have the technology to share information online. Now it is time for school districts to step up and provide us with detailed information on how they spend our money.

Has MSTA’s Legislative Director Moved To Lake Wobegon?

Posted on by James V. Shuls

Apparently the legislative director of the Missouri State Teacher’s Association (MSTA) has moved to Lake Wobegon. On the MSTA’s blog yesterday, Mike Wood mentioned some interesting “facts.” Wood noted: “Statewide test scores continue to improve. Only 4 states scored better than Missouri on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests.” I am not sure how MSTA calculated that number; by my estimation, the facts seem a little less optimistic.

The National Center for Education Statistics webpage has NAEP data for each state. It shows that Missouri students ranked about average in comparison to students from the other states and the District of Columbia:

Fourth-grade reading: 32nd

Eighth-grade reading: 25th

Fourth-grade math: 28th

Eighth-grade math: 33th

Missouri is a wonderful state, but sadly, not every student is above average.

Wood made these statements to argue that the state does not need to remove teacher tenure. He notes that the current process for removing teachers is “concise and inexpensive” if handled properly. Make no mistake, however, MSTA does support tenure reform; tenure reform that benefits its members:

Indeed, there are reforms that can be made to the tenure law in Missouri. Currently, Missouri has the longest probationary period for teachers. MSTA would support the lowering of the probationary period to three years. Along with this, MSTA would support making changes to the hearings during the termination proceedings . . . MSTA would propose that hearings be held before an independent hearing officer. This would ensure that both the teacher and the school district present fair and relevant information for an impartial, trained, and qualified official who would then render a decision.

Apparently, to MSTA, tenure reform means making it easier to get tenure and more laborious to fire teachers. That type of system may be great if every teacher were above average, but sadly, we do not live in Lake Wobegon.

To read more Show-Me Institute blog posts on teacher tenure, click here, here, or here.

Jo Jo Star Interns, Your Lives Are Calling

Posted on by David Stokes

Calling all college students, recent graduates looking for a job, former reality television stars looking to do something productive, etc. The Show-Me Institute has extended our Fall 2012 intern application period. If you are interested in having an internship in our Saint Louis office this fall, please send us a resume, transcript, and writing sample before Sept. 7. Click here for all the information you need. In prior years, our interns have had their op-eds published in Missouri newspapers, assisted with major policy studies, addressed the United Nations General Assembly, and much more. Did I mention the internship is paid, too?

Seriously, we have openings for full- or part-time internships. If you are interested in free-market economics and Missouri public policy, please consider applying.

Disclaimer: The part about the U.N. is a joke.

McGraw Milhaven – David Stokes on KTRS

Posted on by David Stokes

David Stokes has a recurring spot on McGraw Milhaven’s KTRS radio program.

In this appearance, Stokes and the host discuss topics such as Stokes’ eldest son’s first day of kindergarten, the latest with Ellisville (where movement towards a recall election was responded to with an attempt to change the city charter), the actual results of the recent election that seemed to have been decided by one vote, and the recent editorial proposing that the Sheriff in St. Charles be appointed rather than elected.

 

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