Overland Park directs staff to negotiate property‑tax rebate for Fiserv regional hub, council approves agreement framework

The Overland Park City Council on April 21 voted to direct staff to prepare a property‑tax rebate agreement for Project Turtle, the city’s working name for a planned Fiserv regional hub to locate in existing office buildings in the city.

City staff and council members said Fiserv intends to invest between $125 million and $175 million to renovate two buildings on the campus and to bring about 2,000 jobs with an average annual salary of roughly $125,000. The staff report presented a proposed structure that would return an estimated $1.3 million in city property‑tax revenue over a 10‑year period to Fiserv as a rebate; staff said the total rebate across jurisdictions would be about $3,000,000 and that the proposal excludes rebates to the Blue Valley School District and Johnson County Community College.

Finance committee and council discussion described the project as unusually structured for the city because the primary investment is tenant improvements and interior gutting, rather than new construction. Councilmember Cox questioned the form and scale of the incentive, saying the proposed tenant improvements appeared large for a tenant improvment scope: “So I just wanted to be clear that I'm understanding what I'm listening in understand that because I'm I'm a little confused. It seems too much money to be TI,” Cox said. Councilmembers supporting the measure said the public partnership enabled Fiserv to choose Overland Park over competing offers and noted the company will still pay school and college property taxes.

Councilmember Passer disclosed a potential conflict and abstained from the final vote, citing work in the fintech sector that could be perceived as related to the project. Several other members expressed support for the rebate as a net benefit to the community; the motion to direct staff to prepare the rebate agreement passed 11 in favor, 0 opposed with 1 abstention.

Council and staff said the development agreement will include enforceable commitments on capital investment, employee counts and average salary; details and phasing will be negotiated in the formal agreement returned to council for approval.

Clarifying details from the staff presentation: the $125–$175 million is the capital investment range Fiserv plans to commit to refurbishing two buildings; the job count cited was roughly 2,000 positions with an average salary of about $125,000; the city‑level portion of the rebate was described in discussion as approximately $1.3 million over 10 years and the total rebate across jurisdictions as about $3,000,000, with schools and Johnson County Community College excluded.