WICHITA, Kansas (KSN) - After two months of circulating petitions, the Wichita chapter of Americans For Prosperity is confident it will have the required amount of signatures to send a tax subsidy for a hotel developer to a vote.How far that will go in overturning the subsidy is still unknown.
The group held a celebration of sorts Sunday. It was a final push for petition organizers to get as many signatures as possible.
“I'm hoping today that we get enough numbers here to present to the city to get this stopped,” said Denmon Underwood, who signed the petition.
He is one of a few thousand adding his name to a petition to overturn about $2 million in tax subsidies for the developers of the future Ambassador Boutique Hotel being built in downtown Wichita.
"The developer himself needs to put the money up front, instead of putting it on the backs of people,” said Underwood.
Part of the agreement between the city and developers calls for the hotel to retain 75 percent of a hotel guest tax for 15 years.
Organizers need just over 2,500 signatures as a step in overturning that, and the group has met the required number.
“There's a lot of resistance to these big tax payer giveaways that the city council has done,” said Bob Weeks, a petition organizer.
Nothing is set in stone as to that subsidy being overturned. The signatures will have to be verified, and not all names will be valid.
“They sign and then you see they live in Haysville or something like that,” Weeks said. “Some people don't want to admit they are not registered to vote so they go ahead and sign.”
Still, organizers are confident they have more than enough signatures, and say they'll continue to get them up until the petition is turned in.
Meanwhile, developers say they'll have their own campaign to counter the petition.
They believe Americans For Prosperity members are misinformed about the tax money. They say it will come from hotel guests, not Wichita tax payers.
“Does Wichita want the jobs? Do they want the additional tax revenue coming in? And do they want the amenities in their downtown area?” questioned Paul Coury, a hotel developer.
