One City Stands Out.

Last week we learned what Community Improvement Districts (CIDs) and Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts are. Today, let’s look at how often they’re actually used.

Community Improvement Districts aren’t unique to Lenexa. Cities throughout Johnson County use them to encourage redevelopment and help fund public improvements. But when we started comparing the numbers, one city immediately stood out.

Lenexa has 20 active Community Improvement Districts listed in their own Economic Development documents. This number does not include new CIDs. On a per-capita basis, Lenexa relies on CIDs much more heavily than many neighboring cities.

That doesn’t automatically mean it’s right.
It doesn’t automatically mean it’s wrong.
But it does raise an important question: Why?

Every one of those 20+ districts authorizes an additional sales tax within its boundaries. If you’ve shopped in one, there’s a good chance you’ve paid that extra tax.

Most residents have never directly voted to approve those additional sales taxes. They don’t receive a ballot asking whether they support a new CID. In many cases, they don’t even know they’re shopping inside one. Instead, these districts are created through the public process established by Kansas law, including public hearings and approval by the City Council.

That’s all technically legal.

But it also explains why the phrase “No Taxation Without Representation” came to mind.
The American colonists weren’t simply upset about paying taxes…they objected to paying taxes without meaningful participation in the decisions that imposed them.

Today’s system is obviously different. We elect city officials to make these decisions on our behalf, and CIDs are authorized under Kansas law. But when additional taxes are approved for specific districts without a direct vote of the people who will pay them and many residents don’t even realize those districts exist…. it raises a broader question about transparency and public awareness.

That’s why I’d update the phrase for today:
No Taxation Without Information.