City’s job focus ‘behind the times’

After wading through pages of documents about what area cities do to attract new jobs and businesses to their communities, City Commissioner Mike Amyx offered one brief summary.

“It seems to me that we’re kind of behind the times,” Amyx said as part of a City Commission study session Monday morning about economic development activities.

City staff members put together a survey of Big 12 communities and Kansas cities that have populations above 50,000 people. The results showed commissioners that several communities have special funds in their budget devoted to providing cash incentives to companies, and others go far beyond just traditional tax abatements when trying to lure companies.

Mayor Sue Hack, though, said Lawrence likely will continue to lag other cities until the community figures out how to make the process of attracting companies less political. Hack said the city needs new policies that set clear guidelines on when companies should receive tax abatements or other types of incentives, rather than relying so much on city commissioners’ opinions.

Hack said now is the time for the city to consider making changes to its economic development policies because the market is becoming more competitive.

“We’re in a different ball game now in terms of the amount of projects that are out there,” Hack said. “There are a lot fewer, and because of that, I think we need to be more aggressive, unless we just want to continue on the trend of being a bedroom community.” More here.