Exclusive: Funkhouser fires back at Chamber of Commerce

Is the budget balanced?

Mark Funkhouser did exactly what a leader should do. He spoke up for the budget cuts, then allowed the committee that was appropriately assigned to deal with them do so.

But, if anyone thinks for a minute that this would have happened without him, you are wrong.
The Mayor is giving us the very things that caused us to support him in the first place.

You can make witty comments about him all day long, but we weren't asking for another Cleaver or Barnes. We got exactly what was promised, a man who isn't afraid to do what's necessary to clean up their mess.

I laughed out loud when I read the "I am the Mayor" letter. He has all those degrees in finance related disciplines and he was in a fog on the budget. Even is close ally, Hermann, told some business leaders that Funkhouser was irrelevant and no one was talking to him. He kept pushing a fiscal crisis that did not exist---in the end the new budget cut $13 million. To make this even more pathetic, Funkhouser claims financial experience and one only has to look at the condition of his personal finances and you can see he is a fake. According to financial records reported in the Pitch, he has two mortgages (one looks like a subprime) that total over $420,000 for a house not worth more than $325,000. He ain't "smart with his own money". I wonder if the Feds that investigated Shields might take a look at the funkhouser mortgages ?

I voted for Mayor Mark - and am seriously sorry that I did. His anger at the chamber seems displaced - he was irrelevant in the budget process (and so much else) and so has picked an easy target to lash out at - the business community.

I find his letter revealing - notice all the "I's" and "my's" - has he forgotten that he's one of just 13 votes? On KMBZ Friday, I heard him refer to "MY ZOO". His level of arrogance is stunning. And appalling. Not to mention, disappointing.

He is irrelevant. Kudos to Jan Marcason for brokering the compromise.

When leadership is absent, someone else has to fill the void. Marcason did just that.

the school district was smart enough to nix it. The Joliet School Dist. in Will Co., Ill. had to sue to get their tax dollars promised to them from the TIF given on the Elwood, Ill. intermodal. The Council and the status quo had to revert to a straight 85% tax incentive which no entity could stop (at least for now). A TIF diverts the tax dollar to the project and the taxing entities get very little of their tax revenue resulting in a heavier tax burden for the average citizen. With the Gardner Walmart the TIF is receiving 83 cents on the dollar and the taxing entities are only receiving 17 cents on the dollar.

With this 85% tax incentive you are left with only 15% to service the project and all of the resulting expenses for the huge infrastructure costs. I have done extensive research on intermodals across the nation and infrastructure costs are in the billions, not millions but billions. So the end result is the people get deadly pollution from these projects, no tax revenue to cover the costs of the infrastructure or for our schools and a total loss of quality of life. I will take that land sitting there any day over this deal.

Intermodals are assessed and taxed at the state level. I spoke to an assessor in Billings, Mt. who had appraised railroad property for years. He advised me if you let this intermodal into your community you will immediately see a 20% reduction in your property values. He then went on to advise me the intermodal there in Billings had an appraised value of over $1 million (much smaller than what we will have here) but due to special exemptions railroads get (land is totally exempt and improvements are greatly reduced) that $1 million appraised property is reduced down to an appraised value of $83,000 and they were only paying about $1,800 in property taxes per year.

Mr. Licausi who is wanting to build some huge warehouses in the Gardner area I believe has a tax bill on his own home of around $6,000 a year which is over 3 times the amount of taxes BNSF pays on their intermodal in Billings, Mt. That home Mr. Licausi lives in will bring me and all of the other citizens much more tax revenue than that intermodal and I sure won't be seeing billions of dollars of expenses for him living there.

The jobs this intermodal will provide will be mostly warehouse jobs which are low paying, for the most part between $9 to $15 an hour and I don't think anyone can make it on that kind of income in today's world.

So please look at things from all sides in detail and don't take for granted what an economic development guy or a developer tells you - be an independent thinker and do your own research.

Mayor Mark often goes to great lengths to further civil discourse. Although he holds his ground on his policy positions, the mayor
sometimes seems to let personal slights go by.

I applaud his response to the Chamber. Unlike Funk those people were elected by no one. They are basically a lobby group for business interests and some of them may not even be Kansas City residents. While I expect most of them have the welfare of the city in mind, their viewpoint is going to be colored by their own financial interest.

I suggest they leave governing our city to our elected officials. I know that I didn't vote on any of them. They should be especially careful about meddling in the Cauthen controversy. While Cauthen has seemingly won round one, the brawl isn't over and his position is not really that secure. I'm betting on the Funk seeing him out the door in the long run.

Coming off a win, the only win funk has had in a year in office, and y'all have to end it with flipping off the civic council.

Funk essentially won.

But that's not enough.

You guys think writing a letter will sew things up nicely.

Just like Funk calling the exiting Parks Board divisive and in the same breath nominating Semler.

That strategy is working quite well for you guys. Keep up the terrible work.

Harry Truman was known to write letters, then stick them somewhere. Gave him time to think things through instead of spewing. Not a bad system. I recommend this to the 29th floor. Of course Harry Truman asked Bess "Why is it that only sons-of-bitches know how to lick a stamp?"

I fail to see the smart side of this letter, Yael. The mayor comes off petulant. "I am the Mayor."!!? Won't hear Peggy Dunn saying that.
I fear our current mayor will be known for greatness of height, not greatness in office.

At least you have dropped your pose as "everyone's friend." Good deal. The truth will set you free... a lesson you should try to teach to your boy Mark Forked Tongue Funkhouser. Certainly even a die hard fan of the funk like youself would be prone to agree that in the Cauthen Debacle, the Funk wasn't exactly truthful or transparent. You agree, right?

If the area that the railroad wants to develop is sitting empty and generating a minimal amount of tax money, with if the project gets a TIF break will this cause the taxes to go up? I have no interest in this venture but I am curious about the issue of TIF and the resultant tax break. In this case, the exisiting taxes must be nil so I don't see the problem. Please explain...