Silverstein Eye Center Arena Lacks Vision

It took 10 years to final get the financing and operations of the Silverstein Eye Center Arena, formerly known as the Independence Events Center, audited.  No, it wasn’t an internal audit.  The independent review came from Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway.  It appears the city has been pulling the proverbial “Zamboni” on local taxpayers not unlike the “Pain in the Crackerneck” we got from the Bass Pro development upstream in the Little Blue Valley.  Findings indicate some of the obvious such as conflicts of interest by the Community Improvement District (CID) Board represented by mostly city employees and an executive from a local bank with ties to City Hall leadership.  The CID Board is supposed to make judgements on how much to tax and how much to give City Hall for administering the CID.  It appears the CID Board gave away its responsibilities back to the city who controlled all aspects of the planning, design, construction, financing, and operations of the Events Center.  This presented unique opportunities for City Hall to raise taxes without a public vote and to fill voids in a city budget that’s on “thin ice” using funds dedicated to the CID and the Events Center.  The City took advantage of the situation inflating their fees 10 times the market rate for administering the CID, according the audit.  With the current system, there is no incentive to be efficient and successful.  When you come up short, just raise taxes.  With Bass Pro, the Event Center, and, coming to a Square near you, the $3 million Farmer’s Market, all founded on the old sports cliché, “Build it & they will come” (I thought the public servant motto was “Protect & Serve”), this completes the “Hat Trick” to the taxpayers of Independence.  Next project, a “Penalty Box” for City Hall.