Call it a trick of the map, but if you’re driving around the Kansas City metro, it’s not always easy to tell whether you’re in Missouri in Kansas.
That’s because the Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state region with an often unnoticed dividing line―State Line Road―that almost imperceptibly separates the Show Me and Sunflower states. It’s not really a big deal, until money and politics get involved.
“Kansas City as a region is unique in the country,” said Missouri State Sen. Ryan Silvey, who represents Clay County. “You can cross the street and be in a completely different tax structure.”
Silvey has filed Missouri Senate Bill 635, which would halt companies from receiving tax incentives for doing nothing more than moving their enterprises a few miles east or west of State Line Road. The law would not go into effect without a reciprocal agreement from Kansas.
“It’s an eye-opening experience to see just how little you actually have to move in some cases,” Silvey said. “People don’t realize that the city is completely built up on both sides of the state line. And you can go from one state to the other in many instances and not even know it.”
Those who live outside of the Kansas City metro often don’t appreciate the situation, Silvey said. For example, in St. Louis, the Mississippi River provides a natural state boundary between Missouri and Illinois, so people there don’t have to abide by a virtually invisible line.
“They don’t really understand,” Silvey said. “And then you bring them here and you show them that you can move your business 100 yards in some instances to receive an incentive.”
Jim Heeter, president and CEO of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, offered a possible comparison to the economic boarder between Missouri and Kansas: The area where Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky come together. There’s quite a bit of competition for businesses in that area, Heeter said, and incentives and abatements weigh into the conversation when it comes to companies crossing state lines.
“Having said that,” Heeter said, “it’s the Ohio River that separates them, so even that isn’t a true comparable.”
Heeter said he does see something of a silver lining to the issue.
“Because it’s so easy to move back and forth, there are many people who live in one state and work in the other,” he said. “So in many important ways, we’re actually bound together as a regional community. That’s good news.”
