General Discussion

pstokely

(10,528 posts) Wed Sep 27, 2017, 01:56 AM Sep 2017

As police layoffs loom, Raytown considers declaring Walmart a public nuisance

http://fox4kc.com/2017/09/26/as-police-layoffs-loom-raytown-considers-declaring-walmart-a-public-nuisance/

"RAYTOWN, Mo. -- Ten years after Raytown cut Walmart a sweetheart deal to convince the retail giant to come to town, city leaders are discussing declaring Walmart a public nuisance.

The discussion came during a special session to discuss budget cuts that will lead to police layoffs.

“We have cut literally everything we can when it comes to these departments," Alderman Jason Greene said during the meeting.

“There should not be any mistake. With a reduction of $3 million in cuts, people are going to lose jobs," Chief Jim Lynch said.

In an open letter released on the Raytown Police website Monday, Chief Lynch said he would have to cut 17 full-time police officers to meet the budget demands.

For months both alderman and residents have pointed to one 2007 vote as the source of the city’s problems. A TIF, that's erased roughly $3 million dollars per year in tax revenue from city revenues.

"Right now we are getting this much from Walmart," Alderman Eric Teeman said forming his fingers in a zero."

“Walmart does not pay anything to the city of Raytown; no property taxes, anything because of the TIF," Cheryl White said."

19 replies

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Highlight:

As police layoffs loom, Raytown considers declaring Walmart a public nuisance (Original Post) pstokely Sep 2017 OP

Well, that is what happens when you lay in bed Doreen Sep 2017 #1

K & R for obvious reasons... GReedDiamond Sep 2017 #2

Chickens, Hayduke Bomgarte Sep 2017 #3

Oh tough ass! The_Casual_Observer Sep 2017 #4

So you agree.... SergeStorms Sep 2017 #10

We had to put a sheriff sub station in the nearby Walmart Ligyron Oct 2017 #16

oh what will MAMA say? nt msongs Sep 2017 #5

She'd say.... SoCalNative Sep 2017 #13

Very interesting, PStokely. Much of Walmart's city sales taxes are paid back to Walmart itself, Hortensis Sep 2017 #6

That is the most insane corporate welfare scheme I've ever seen Lee-Lee Sep 2017 #11

that megachurch nearby doesn't pay any taxes either pstokely Oct 2017 #14

No surprise to learn. I'd like to think it was only in the hope of bringing Hortensis Oct 2017 #15

Suckers. PT Barnum grossly underestimated their birth rate. nt TeamPooka Sep 2017 #7

no kidding! mdbl Oct 2017 #18

That's the way the Walton's do business. SergeStorms Sep 2017 #8

Short sightedness not a virtue. JNelson6563 Sep 2017 #9

Gone -- all those mom-and-pop businesses that paid taxes and kept their NCjack Sep 2017 #12

Absolutely Ligyron Oct 2017 #17

They probably also drain police resources as they do everywhere HAB911 Oct 2017 #19

Doreen

(11,686 posts)

1. Well, that is what happens when you lay in bed

Reply to pstokely (Original post)

Wed Sep 27, 2017, 02:10 AM

Sep 2017

with one of the most crooked corporations in the world. Someone is going to get hurt and usually it is not Walmart. The city leaders are the ones at fault for this situation they got Raytown into. Greed.

GReedDiamond

(5,313 posts)

2. K & R for obvious reasons...

Reply to pstokely (Original post)

Wed Sep 27, 2017, 02:11 AM

Sep 2017

...walmart uses a parasitic business model, this is only one of the potential end results.

Hayduke Bomgarte

(1,965 posts)

3. Chickens,

Reply to pstokely (Original post)

Wed Sep 27, 2017, 02:17 AM

Sep 2017

Meet roosts.

The_Casual_Observer

(27,742 posts)

4. Oh tough ass!

Reply to pstokely (Original post)

Wed Sep 27, 2017, 02:17 AM

Sep 2017

That place makes some pretty stupid decisions. Why do they need all those cops in the first place? Is it a hot bed of terrorism or something? Jesus.

SergeStorms

(19,201 posts)

10. So you agree....

Reply to The_Casual_Observer (Reply #4)

Wed Sep 27, 2017, 03:30 AM

Sep 2017

with Walmart's "corporate socialist" business model? I don't understand the scorn directed at the City and people of Raytown. They really don't seem to be the villain in this dust-up. Just curious, no malice intended.

Ligyron

(7,632 posts)

16. We had to put a sheriff sub station in the nearby Walmart

Reply to The_Casual_Observer (Reply #4)

Sun Oct 1, 2017, 08:01 AM

Oct 2017

to deal with all the shoplifting said Walmart complained about.

On top of that, the federal gov has to subsidize Walmart employees with "food stamps" since they don't even earn enough to feed themselves.

msongs

(67,406 posts)

5. oh what will MAMA say? nt

Reply to pstokely (Original post)

Wed Sep 27, 2017, 02:19 AM

Sep 2017

SoCalNative

(4,613 posts)

13. She'd say....

Reply to msongs (Reply #5)

Wed Sep 27, 2017, 06:25 AM

Sep 2017

[link:|

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)

6. Very interesting, PStokely. Much of Walmart's city sales taxes are paid back to Walmart itself,

Reply to pstokely (Original post)

Wed Sep 27, 2017, 02:32 AM

Sep 2017

and the city collects no tax from increased sales at a new, much larger store it has to provide municipal services for. Wonder how many towns Walmart has perhaps threatened to pull out of to renegotiate sweetheart deals like this one. This is according to a 2007 news blog in Rayport, MO. http://raytownreport.blogspot.com/2007/12/walmart-tif-explained.html

Walmart TIF Explained

... So, I have some catching up to do . . . from my reading of the posts, it is clear that explanation called for in explaining how the TIF created by the city for Walmart works. Raytown Live is the name given to the TAX INCRMENT FINANCING District where the new Walmart Super Center is to be constructed next summer. Call it what you will – the TIF is there for two purposes: 1. To build a new votech school for the School District. 2. To pay for the infrastructure (parking lot, buildings, etc.) for Walmart.

RAYTOWN’S WALMART TIF: Tax Increment Financing is the term given to the practice of creating a taxing district and using the tax collected to finance the commercial entity within the district. Most TIF’s are written in such a way that a 1% sales tax increase is split between the community (in this case the City of Raytown) with the other half to the development. Raytown’s Walmart TIF does not work that way. In the Raytown Live TIF District most of the sales tax dollars collected will go to pay for the building of the new votech school and the new Walmart. That sales tax revenue collected includes the city’s regular 1% sales tax, the Fire District’s ½% sales tax and the special transportation sales tax voters recently approved to pay for street overlay.

To appreciate the enormity of the bite the TIF district is taking out the city’s sales tax one need only look to the sales tax revenue collected by the current Walmart Store located at 67th and Blue Ridge Cutoff. That location collects 12% of the city’s sales tax dollars. The difference between the old Walmart and the one to be built on 350 Highway is that the 12% collected at the current location goes directly to the city’s coffers. The sales tax at the new location will not go to the city, but to pay off the debt of the infrastructure costs of the school district and Walmart. Since the new Walmart will be larger and have a grocery store it will create more than 12% of the city’s sales tax revenue. Some place the additional sales tax as capable of creating up to 18% of the city’s sales tax revenue. The point is, the amount will be greater than the current 12% -- whatever that figure is, it represents money that will not be available to maintain our streets, remove snow, pay police, etc.

Raytown’s TIF is also unique in another way. It has the full faith of the city behind it. That means that if the new Walmart does not meet the anticipated income levels to pay off the debt, the city is obligated to pay the debt for Walmart. The majority of the city’s fathers are betting that other development will take place in property adjacent to the new Walmart to make up the difference created by the debt service. Time will tell whether or not that scheme is successful. In the meantime, look for tight city budgets in the near future.

Lee-Lee

(6,324 posts)

11. That is the most insane corporate welfare scheme I've ever seen

Reply to Hortensis (Reply #6)

Wed Sep 27, 2017, 05:59 AM

Sep 2017

Did city leaders lock them into this deal for perpetuity?

pstokely

(10,528 posts)

14. that megachurch nearby doesn't pay any taxes either

Reply to Hortensis (Reply #6)

Sun Oct 1, 2017, 05:30 AM

Oct 2017

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)

15. No surprise to learn. I'd like to think it was only in the hope of bringing

Reply to pstokely (Reply #14)

Sun Oct 1, 2017, 07:49 AM

Oct 2017

more money into the area, nothing to do with taxpayer giveaways to religion. If it were here in Georgia, for sure it'd be the latter, and the first only as a hope.

TeamPooka

(24,226 posts)

7. Suckers. PT Barnum grossly underestimated their birth rate. nt

Reply to pstokely (Original post)

Wed Sep 27, 2017, 02:35 AM

Sep 2017

mdbl

(4,973 posts)

18. no kidding!

Reply to TeamPooka (Reply #7)

Sun Oct 1, 2017, 08:15 AM

Oct 2017

SergeStorms

(19,201 posts)

8. That's the way the Walton's do business.

Reply to pstokely (Original post)

Wed Sep 27, 2017, 03:24 AM

Sep 2017

They take every cent of public money they can get their hands on and give hardly anything back. Their employees have to turn to Medicaid for any health coverage, because Walmart doesn't give them any benefits.
Want to talk about Socialist corporations? Walmart is at the top of the list. Every penny of profit is privatized, but the cost of doing business, and any losses incurred, are socialized. If people only took a minute out of their lives to examine how widespread this "corporate socialism" really is, they might think differently about Federal programs that help our citizens, instead of greedy, over-paid corporate nabobs.

JNelson6563

(28,151 posts)

9. Short sightedness not a virtue.

Reply to pstokely (Original post)

Wed Sep 27, 2017, 03:26 AM

Sep 2017

NCjack

(10,279 posts)

12. Gone -- all those mom-and-pop businesses that paid taxes and kept their

Reply to pstokely (Original post)

Wed Sep 27, 2017, 06:18 AM

Sep 2017

profits local. We tried to tell you. Now, bankruptcy is the only way out of that agreement.

Ligyron

(7,632 posts)

17. Absolutely

Reply to NCjack (Reply #12)

Sun Oct 1, 2017, 08:09 AM

Oct 2017

yet rinse and repeat ad nausea. There's always another sucker community over the hill

HAB911

(8,892 posts)

19. They probably also drain police resources as they do everywhere

Reply to pstokely (Original post)

Sun Oct 1, 2017, 08:26 AM

Oct 2017

http://www.tampabay.com/projects/2016/public-safety/walmart-police/

after the video the text will appear

snip

Law enforcement logged nearly 16,800 calls in one year to Walmarts in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando counties

, according to a Tampa Bay Times analysis. That’s two calls an hour, every hour, every day.

Local Walmarts, on average, generated four times as many calls as nearby Targets, the Times found. Many individual supercenters attracted more calls than the much larger WestShore Plaza mall.

When it comes to calling the cops, Walmart is such an outlier compared with its competitors that experts criticized the corporate giant for shifting too much of its security burden onto taxpayers. Several local law enforcement officers also emphasized that all the hours spent at Walmart cut into how often they can patrol other neighborhoods and prevent other crimes.

“They’re a huge problem in terms of the amount of time that’s spent there,” said Tampa police Officer James Smith, who specializes in retail crime. “We are, as a department, at the mercy of what they want to do.”

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