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Commerce official urges five-year extension of Kansas Star Bond program
Summary
Bob North of the Kansas Department of Commerce briefed a legislative committee on the Star Bond program, urging a five-year extension before next year’s sunset and outlining program mechanics, recent statutory expansions, project performance, and visitor-tracking requirements.
Bob North, chief counsel for the Kansas Department of Commerce, told a legislative committee that the state should extend the Star Bond program for five years to give developers and cities predictability while complex tourism projects move through long development timelines.
North said Star Bonds, created in 1999, are “a very, very effective tool for growing the Kansas economy” and that the projects are financed by incremental and new sales tax generated by visitors to attractions rather than by general taxpayer obligations. “These are special revenue bonds,” he said, explaining that bondholders’ recourse is limited to state and local sales tax, transient guest tax and liquor-related tax revenue, and that the bonds are not obligations of the state or local governments.
Commerce told the committee the state currently has 17 active Star Bond projects and roughly 10 to 11 additional projects at conceptual or early stages. North recommended extending the program’s sunset, now set for next year,…
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