KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -
KCTV5 told viewers about a plan by a group of Midtown businesses to help improve the Broadway Corridor with a sales tax increase.
Now, one business near 36th and Broadway Street is stepping out on its own and moving ahead with an improvement plan that could start taxing you in a few months.
The Uptown Theater and a shopping plaza are just a stone's throw away from the proposed Broadway Community Improvement District. But the theater is branching out and creating its own sales tax that could pay for improvements long overdue in the Midtown neighborhood.
For decades, Larry Sells at Uptown Theater has been looking out his box office at the shopping plaza across the street.
"This shopping center was about ready to fall down. It was full of asbestos and all kinds of things," he said.
That is until the city took out bonds and partnered with Sells to manage and bring in new business. But now, the two properties need to grow with marketing, security and beautification.
"The perfect way of doing it is to tax ourselves and the theater, which generates a lot of sales tax because of the tickets that come in with concerts," Sells said.
Sells proposed a CID that would come with a 1-percent sales tax at the Uptown Theater and businesses in the shopping plaza.
"Some of this money will go to pay on the bonds, and the other district does not want to pay on these particular bonds," he said.
The proposal sets the Uptown CID apart from its neighbor's proposals down Broadway Street.
The city council is expected to vote on the proposal within the next month. The sales tax could generate anywhere between $40,000 and $100,000 in the first year.
Copyright 2012 KCTV (Meredith Corp.) All rights reserved.
