Dr. Carolyn Christman, the consultant who led an incentives analysis commissioned by the Wyandotte County Economic Development Council, told county commissioners May 29 that a review of 32 locally administered incentive projects over about 20 years showed the incentives increased property values and sales-tax receipts and paid for infrastructure in places where those tools were used.

She told commissioners the EDC hired Christman Consulting in October 2023, and the final study was completed in March 2024. The analysis examined a limited set of commonly used local tools — tax increment financing (TIF), community improvement districts (CID), neighborhood revitalization areas (NRA) and industrial revenue bonds (IRB) — and excluded state incentives, some utility incentives and projects for which required data were not available.

The study’s purpose, Christman said, was to give the county “a baseline of where we were with economic development” and to produce recommendations to strengthen incentives, local administration and possible new tools.

Christman summarized the review’s quantitative findings: across the 32 projects analyzed, aggregate annual property taxes rose from about $6.4 million before development to about $12.7 million after, and sales-tax collections moved from roughly $4.8 million predevelopment to about $41.7 million postdevelopment. She cited specific projects to illustrate the mechanics: Bonner Point’s TIF, for example, grew from about $4,400 in property tax in the base year to roughly $263,000 years later and produced nearly $1 million in sales taxes after development; other long‑running TIF projects showed similar increases in appraised value and taxes paid.

Christman also outlined key differences between Kansas and neighboring Missouri that affect competitiveness. Kansas does not tax business machinery and equipment as personal property, while Missouri sometimes offers longer IRB abatements (20–25 years versus Kansas’s 10-year cap). She said Kansas communities generally have similar public hearing, development‑agreement and abatement percentage processes as other states, but local staff capacity, workforce training programs and available ready‑to‑market sites influence whether a county lands projects.

Her recommendations were grouped into three areas: 1) strengthen local program administration by dedicating staff to review agreements, ensure compliance and publish an annual tracker showing incentives in force and their remaining terms; 2) adjust existing incentives where justified (she recommended revisiting the NRA construction allowance, currently $3 million, to reflect rising construction costs and consider staged abatements to improve competitiveness); and 3) consider new incentives only after following International Economic Development Council (IEDC) guidance and while retaining transparency, simple one‑page summaries for site selectors and options such as self-scoring incentive sheets tied to local hiring or contracting commitments.

Christman also urged increased local review of third‑party cost‑benefit analyses and stronger tracking of job and wage commitments where local officials want them monitored — she noted most job verification in practice is done at the state level, not by local incentive programs.

Commissioners asked for clarifications on measurement and comparators. Commissioner Gail Townsend pressed whether a standard percentage increase defines “success”; Christman said there is no single national benchmark and returns vary by tool, project timing and whether municipalities used bonds or pay‑as‑you‑go financing. Commissioner Andrew Davis asked about the effect of higher local mill rates and lower property values; Christman said the study did show appraised values increased postdevelopment and that those patterns differed across jurisdictions.

Christman and EDC president Greg Kendall also described how the county’s online transparency — published program descriptions and qualification steps — is viewed favorably by national site selectors who told the consultant that clarity and flexibility matter. The site selectors interviewed emphasized workforce and training programs as often decisive and said communities lose points when they rely on case‑by‑case arrangements without readily available program materials.

The presentation did not require a commission vote and commissioners signaled interest in Christman’s administrative and reporting recommendations.

Ending: Commissioners requested follow‑up information on how the county could adopt a periodic comparative review and on staff resources needed to maintain an incentives tracker.