The city of Merriam is looking to possible expand the types of public incentive it can offer developers. On Monday, the Merriam City Council discussed a new policy that would allow the city to consider applications for community improvement districts, or CIDs. This comes roughly a year after Kansas City-based real estate company R.H. Johnson Company requested a CID to refurbish Merriam Town Center, a shopping center near Antioch Road and Johnson Drive currently anchored by a Cinemark theaters and a Home Depot. Still, City Administrator Chris Engel told the city council on Monday that the policy is not being considered as a direct response to that request. A community improvement district is a type of public incentive (employed frequently by other Johnson County cities) that imposes an additional sales tax within a designated project area. The revenue raised by that sale tax goes towards helping finance the project, according to state statute.
Source: Prairie Village Post
