Citizens For a Responsible Government (CFRG), a Kansas City-based watchdog group, does not like the smell of the $800 million general obligation bond the KCMO City Council hopes citizens will approve in an April ballot. The money is slated for infrastructure improvements and a new animal shelter.
The bond, argues CFRG spokesman Dan Coffey, is to be paid back through a property tax increase. Coffey contends that if the city is unable to meet its obligations, the bondholders can demand property owners honor the bond.
“We watched as several members of our City Council slapped each other on the back, high-fived each other and giggled like giddy schoolchildren that they had placed this on the April 4th ballot,” says Coffey. “We really don’t think they understood the security pledged for their spending plan is our HOMES.”
The CFRG is shoring up against what will inevitably be an all-out media blitz by the city to sell a plan the CFRG considers hasty and ill-planned. The city needs approval from 57.5 percent of voters to pass the bond. If CFRG has its way, the city will not even get close.
