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Resident urges Wichita to publish CID and TIF debt details amid Kinmar dispute
Summary
A public commenter told the council that community improvement districts and a Kenmore TIF lacked transparency, alleged an off‑books TIF loan and urged the city to post CID amortization schedules and retailer addresses; staff said a CID review is underway and the city will publish vetted information.
WICHITA, Kan. — During the public comment period Sept. 3, Celeste Resette urged the City Council to increase transparency around community improvement districts (CIDs) and tax increment financing (TIF), citing what she called misleading answers in the Kinmar case and a pending lawsuit to collect $2 million from Kinmar developers.
Resette said she found no clear audit trail in city financial statements or on the city website showing a CID‑related loan and asked the city to post outstanding CID and TIF debt, amortization schedules and the addresses of retailers expected to collect CID taxes. "Put the amount of debt outstanding for every CID and TIF in the financial statements and on the city's website," she said.
Assistant City Manager Troy Anderson responded that most CIDs did not receive taxpayer dollars and that staff are performing a comprehensive review of roughly 16 CIDs, preparing narrative summaries and amortization schedules to ensure accuracy before posting. Anderson noted the city’s recourse on sales tax collection is limited and that staff will cross‑reference finance records before releasing information publicly.
Council members asked for a progress report and staff said the city would share the compiled information and that some data is available at wichita.gov/homeless (staff reference to web resources was made in a different context but staff committed to posting CID information when ready).
