Raymore City staff report $330,835 surplus from Galleria TIF, recommend reserve funds for trail fixes and UDC review

Raymore City staff reported that the Galleria Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district is nearing satisfaction and that recent trustee allocations produced an unbudgeted one-time surplus of roughly $330,835.05.

Miss Williams, a city finance staff member, told the Raymore City Council at its May 18 work session that $3,328,425.76 was on hand for allocation as of May 1, 2026, and detailed the trustee "waterfall" distribution: a $2,250 trustee fee; $1,514,000 in principal and interest due May 1; $91,778.13 allocated toward the November interest payment; $365,272.57 reimbursed to the developer; and a $1,020,000 early redemption of bonds. Williams said the city has been reimbursed 100% of its surplus PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) contribution and reported trustee accounts held $2,117,001.69 the week of May 12.

Fearborn, who opened the presentation, recommended that council place the unbudgeted funds into the Reserve Revenue Fund. "It's going to be my recommendation to the council that because it is an extraordinary income with no obligations on the city's part to it, that we place it into the reserve revenue fund," he said. Fearborn outlined two primary options for use of the funds: immediate work related to the southern portion of the Good Parkway Trail to address recurring washout and make the trail usable; and an expanded watershed study (extending to 58 Highway) to reassess hydrology, stream-bank stabilization and planning for more frequent intense storms. He also proposed an independent review and near-rewrite of the Unified Development Code (UDC) in the longer term.

Council members pressed staff for cost and scope details. Staff estimated the expanded watershed study at about $78,000 and said the UDC review could be a not-to-exceed $150,000 project depending on council interaction and scope. "Anything in that range, you're wanting to be sure that you're getting everything done for that, including the hydrology, including stream bank stabilization recommendations," staff said.

Councilmember Baker asked whether the watershed work would conflict with an existing trail redesign contract; staff replied they expected the studies to be coordinated and that combining work could improve pricing. Councilmember Burke confirmed the trail's installation year as 2011; council discussion noted that linear parks adjacent to creeks have presented recurring maintenance and washout problems and that past practice had been to avoid accepting similar land donations in the future.

On the question of floodplain changes and homeowner impacts, staff and legal counsel said an updated city study could support FEMA map amendment requests and that DNR grants may be available for action items recommended by the study. Staff cautioned that stormwater projects recommended by such a study can be costly: "you could be looking at millions of dollars in projects on something like this," they said, and urged caution in defining the desired level of protection.

Staff stated the proposed expanded study would not, to their knowledge, change the previously discussed 12-month timeline for any potential resolution; they aim to present the study with an associated capital improvement plan (CIP) for the next budget year. No formal council action or vote was taken during the work session. The chair also reminded members that the council will receive a resolution on June 8 regarding the Charter Commission setup and timeline.

The council's next regular meeting is when staff said more detailed proposals and budget language for the recommended items will be presented.