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Future of Heartland Park (and KS Nationals) in jeopardy (2 Viewers)

Well..., It's past midnight-Anyone been by the place to see if it's shuttered and padlocked with a notice from the bank posted? ;)o_O:eek:
 
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Heartland Park evades foreclosure for now

Registered member said:
Two days have passed since CoreFirst Bank & Trust could start the process to take over Heartland Park Topeka, and the racetrack appears to have escaped that fate — for now.

City attorney Chad Sublet said Monday CoreFirst hadn’t foreclosed on Jayhawk Racing, the company currently operating the motorsports complex. He said the bank is “taking it day by day.”

“They said they’ll wait and see what the court of appeals has to say,” Sublet said.

The Kansas Court of Appeals on Thursday heard oral arguments in the petition lawsuit. As of Monday, the court hadn’t issued a ruling.

Racetrack operator Ray Irwin on Monday said he hadn’t heard from either the city of Topeka or its bank about a foreclosure against his company.

CoreFirst president and CEO Kurt Kuta said his “official response is no comment at this time.”

If and when the bank decides to foreclose on the property, Sublet said, it has to provide the city 30 days notice.

Topeka’s agreement to purchase Heartland Park empowers creditor CoreFirst to foreclose on Jayhawk Racing as early as Monday. The memorandum of understanding involved allows CoreFirst to foreclose if State Sales Tax (STAR) bonds weren’t issued by Saturday, though it allows for extensions of up to 90 days to be granted.

Sublet has said Topeka — after having initial conversations about extending the MOU — had decided, for now, to wait and see whether the appeals court issues an opinion within a couple of days after Thursday’s oral argument hearing.

Sublet earlier said he assumed, based on the history of the case, that the appeals court would rule fairly soon after the hearing.

He indicated in early February if the court took longer than expected, the city could seek to extend the MOU.
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Audit on Heartland Park plan clears city of Topeka

Registered member said:
The state's law on Sales Tax Revenue financing could change as a result of the city of Topeka's proposed plan to save Heartland Park Topeka.

Although a 29 page Legislative Post Audit report found the city met all eight legal requirements it was tasked to evaluate, staff found several areas of concern and recommended three changes to the STAR Bond Financing Act as a result.

"Overall, we found that each of these areas appeared to meet the requirements of the STAR bond Financing Act, although we also noted several concerns and areas where statutes can be strengthened or clarified," said Kristen Rottinghaus, who works with Legislative Post Audit and presented the report Wednesday.

After a 20 minute hearing about the report, committee members Rep. Peggy Mast, R-Emporia, and Sen. Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, helped advance a request for post audit staff to draft a bill containing the three recommendations, one of which would require outside parties for economic impact studies.

The legislative post audit committee can't introduce any new bills this session, but certain members also serve on committees that can. Hensley suggested Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka, who serves on the Senate's Ways and Means Committee.

The audit also will be forwarded to multiple committees in both the House and Senate.

Topeka city attorney Chad Sublet said thought the audit was a good report for the project, because it found the city met all eight legal standards of the act.

"I thought it was great that they found that we met the legal standard on all eight issues, their entire scope," he said.

He also pointed out that the audit found the racetrack had an annual economic of at least $50 million -- which is $550 million over the course of the 11 year project -- and that race weekend generates three times the amount of sales tax.

Attorney R.E. "Tuck" Duncan, who represents Topekan Chris Imming on the petition effort, had a different perspective. The report, he said, was consistent with some of his arguments before both the county district and state appeals courts and, despite determining the plan met legal requirements, the report was "not a total endorsement."

"But for our actions, which helped generate this report, we probably wouldn't be seeing these suggestions to legislative amendments to make STAR bond statutes clearer and more enforceable," Duncan said. "That's a good thing."

The audit's first recommended amendment to the state's STAR bond law is to require cities and counties that don't meet the 50 percent requirement at the end of the bond period to repay a portion of the state's sales tax dollars.

The city of Topeka offers two means to ensure the $5 million in state sales tax money won't fund more than half of the project. First, because the new owner would have to invest $7 million toward improvements, and second, because current owner Raymond Irwin relinquish his reversionary interest, which is valued at more than $5 million.

However, the report notes, "there is no guarantee the city will be able to find an operator that is willing to make such an investment," and it isn't clear whether an intangible contribution like reversionary interest "is an appropriate project cost for meeting the 50 percent requirement."

The second recommendation is to require economic impact studies be directed by someone other than the local government or its private partners -- to "ensure state officials have an independent and unbiased economic impact assessment when considering STAR bond proposals."

Both studies submitted by the city meet its legal requirements, said Rottinghaus, audit staff member.

However, she said, "both were commissioned by the current operator of the park, which creates a strong risk of bias."

The Hedges & Co. study from 2012, for example, estimates the racetrack's annual economic impact at $160 million. That "significantly overstates" Heartland Park's economic impact, she said.

The study estimated visitor spending at $18.7 million, according to the audit. That would result in about $1.4 million in local and state sales tax revenue.

A review of Kansas Department of Revenue figures, however, put actual spending at $5.7 million in 2011 -- enough to generate $413,000 in sales tax revenue.

Further, the report doesn't account for the portion of visitor spending that would have occurred in Kansas even without the racetrack. The audit's rough estimates indicate Kansas residents "account for a little more than half of the track's economic impact."

The third recommendation is to make the base year for an expanded district clearer.
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Kansas Court of Appeals rules in favor of Topeka regarding Heartland Park

Registered member said:
Topeka’s purchase of Heartland Park can go forward as planned.

The Kansas Appeals Court on Wednesday, while agreeing with several aspects of petitioner Chris Imming’s case, including that the city manager didn’t have authority to file the lawsuit, ruled Imming’s petition was the wrong format to challenge the issuance of Sales Tax Revenue (STAR) bonds.

“A citizen must challenge the issuance of STAR bonds by circulating a protest petition,” the court wrote.

Imming, the court continued, is not entitled to a writ of mandamus because the Topeka City Council is not legally required to appeal its ordinance to issue the STAR bonds. A mandamus is a “proceeding to compel some board or some corporation to perform a specified legal duty,” the ruling states.

“We affirm the district court’s denial of Imming’s claim for the issuance of a write of mandamus,” the court noted.

The city’s progress to acquire the racetrack and issue STAR bonds has been stalled since the appeal was filed Dec. 2. CoreFirst Bank & Trust technically could have foreclosed on operator Jayhawk Racing as early as Feb. 28, but opted to wait until the ruling from the appeals panel, which heard oral arguments in the case Feb. 26.

Meanwhile, the city’s plan to issue $5 million in STAR bonds to acquire the property and expand the sales tax district passed an investigation from the Legislative Post Audit. The audit looked into eight areas of the city’s plan to determine whether they met the legal requirements for the STAR bond act. While the city met all eight measures, post audit staff recommended three amendments to current law to prevent other cities from following suit.
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So, if I understand this right the HPR should be open for business as soon as they find someone that can manage the track.?????
 
Registered member said:
So, if I understand this right the HPR should be open for business as soon as they find someone that can manage the track.?????
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Nope! Council will take a while to vote if they desire to take action on issuing bonds to purchase the facility. It seems this won't occur until later April if at all, and will be after a new round of elections for four open council seats that have pro-public vote candidates running for them. Also petitioners attorney had indicated he will be taking the appeals court decision to the Kansas Supreme Court and has 30 days to file with them. http://m.cjonline.com/news/2015-03-...arding-heartland-park-city-can-move#gsc.tab=0

;):)
 
Editorial: Still time to weigh in on Heartland Park

Registered member said:
A ruling issued Wednesday by the Kansas Court of Appeals cleared the way for city officials to proceed with the proposed issuance of Sales Tax Revenue (STAR) bonds and purchase of Heartland Park Topeka.

The appellate court ruled a trial court erred on several issues, but upheld the trial court’s decision that Chris Imming, who challenged the city’s plans, filed an initiative process when he should have filed a protest petition.

City officials plan to discuss during Tuesday’s Topeka City Council meeting how to proceed.

That gives Topekans another opportunity to let their elected officials know what they think about the proposed purchase of the racetrack and the STAR bond financing.

Heartland Park Topeka and its fate have been hot issues since the city council last summer made the public aware of its plans, which include issuing STAR bonds to purchase the property from owner Ray Irwin, expand the bond district to increase sales tax revenue and find a racetrack operator.

The city has been making payments with general fund revenue on an earlier STAR bond issue for the property because the track hasn’t been generating enough sales tax revenue to retire those bonds.

City officials and Topekans who support the plan see the new STAR bond issue and expanded district as a way to pay off all the bonds without using property tax revenue and keep the racetrack operating.

Opponents, however, view the proposal as a bailout of Irwin and his creditors. Imming is foremost among the opponents and circulated a petition, which garnered about 4,000 signatures, calling for the council to repeal its action or put it to a vote. Two courts have ruled he filed the wrong petition.

Regardless, Topekans still have time to make themselves heard and should let their elected city officials know whether they support or oppose the bond issue and racetrack purchase.

Contact information for the mayor and city council members is listed below.

Members of The Capital-Journal Editorial Advisory Board are Gregg Ireland, Mike Hall, Fred Johnson, Ray Beers Jr., Garry Cushinberry, John Stauffer, Frank Ybarra and Sally Zellers.
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Public meetings planned before Heartland Park vote by new council
Some controversial provisions may not be in contract

Topeka’s way is clear to issue bonds and purchase Heartland Park, city staff told the council Tuesday evening, but the public will get to weigh in first.

The city planned to issue $5 million in Sales Tax Revenue (STAR) bonds to purchase the racetrack and expand the district surrounding it. State and local sales tax collected within the surrounding district would go to pay off the remaining debt on $10.5 million in bonds issued in 2006 and the additional $5 million.

City attorney Chad Sublet said the city no longer has any legal obstacles to issuing the bonds since the Kansas Court of Appeals ruled a petition to force a public vote on the bonds was invalid, but city manager Jim Colson said the issue will go before a new council after the April election. Colson also said the process could include town hall meetings before the council would vote to authorize bond sales.

It was a substantial shift in tone from discussions of Heartland Park in recent months, when lawyers for the city and racetrack operator Jayhawk Racing raised alarms that the track was in imminent danger of closing if a petition drive led by Topekan Chris Imming went to a public vote. CoreFirst Bank & Trust could have foreclosed on Jayhawk Racing as early as Feb. 28, but has opted not to do so thus far.

Imming collected 3,587 signatures in the fall to attempt to force a vote on issuing the bonds. City manager Jim Colson filed suit against the petition and prevailed in Shawnee County District Court.

Imming appealed, but the Kansas Court of Appeals ruled March 11 that the city could purchase Heartland Park without a public vote. The court found Imming used the wrong type of petition to challenge the issuance of STAR bonds. Imming’s attorney, R.E. “Tuck” Duncan, said they plan to ask the Kansas Supreme Court to review the case.

Races at the track are scheduled to start April 4. Jayhawk Racing owner Ray Irwin may continue to operate the track for the time being, Colson said.

It isn’t clear how the council’s views on Heartland Park might shift after the April 7 election. Council members Denise Everhart and Chad Manspeaker didn’t seek re-election, and councilmen T.J. Brown and Nathan Schmidt have opponents.

Councilwoman Sylvia Ortiz said she had received comments from constituents saying they didn't want the city to purchase Heartland Park.

“They're saying, ‘Have they paid their water bill,’ ” she said, referencing Heartland Park's large outstanding water bill.

Councilwoman Denise Everhart said she hadn’t heard an alternative way to pay off the old bonds other than to raise property taxes.

“I guess the question that should be posed to all those folks that are going to come forward is, ‘What else should we do?’ ” she said.

Some council members raised the question of whether the city could call a special election to decide whether to proceed with the vote, but that isn’t legally possible, Sublet said.

Sublet also moved to clarify what a contract with a racetrack operator might include if the council directs them to negotiate one, though Colson reminded the council that nothing had been negotiated yet. The operator would be legally required to invest at least $5 million into the property, but it wouldn’t be required to do specific projects — such as building a banquet hall — that had been suggested, Sublet said.

“It could be whatever the operator wants to invest in the park, but it has to be at least $5 million,” he said.

A controversial provision also could be removed, Sublet said. The National Hot Rod Association had asked for a $1.8 million profit guarantee from the city and the prospective operator.

“The NHRA has verbally agreed they would do away with the guarantees in the contract,” he said.
 
If you want to drive or race at Heartland Park Topeka, now is the time to get involved and make a difference

Here's a couple of things you can do:

- Make positive comments about HPT on the Topeka Capital-Journal articles that I post in this forum

- Write a letter to the editor of the Topeka Capital-Journal supporting HPT ( [email protected] , include hometown and phone # for verification)

- Make public comment at a Topeka City Council Meeting, on Tuesday April 14th at 6pm. (those wishing to offer Public Comment may sign up by phoning the City Clerk’s office at 785-368-3940)
 
**Topeka City Council**will wait**until after new elections next month to take any action on saving 'Heartland Park' Motorsports facility-Most Candidates for office desire a public vote on the matter****http://ksnt.com/2015/03/18/topeka-could-legally-issue-bonds-for-heartland-park-racetrack/

**New** Editorial by major local Topeka News reporting agency: http://www.leaderandtimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20490:topeka-voters-should-decide-on-racetrack&catid=29pinion&Itemid=58
;)
 
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Thank You to those who showed support for Heartland Park!

Change.org petition seeks support for city's purchase of Heartland Park Topeka

Registered member said:
A petition on the website change.org asking the Topeka City Council to complete the city’s purchase of the financially troubled Heartland Park Topeka racing facility had 1,660 supporters as of Thursday afternoon.

The website indicates Topekan Dhruvil Shah about a week ago started the petition, which can be found at http://cjon.co/1MH4hTY.

Shah posted a message Tuesday on his Facebook page asking people to sign it.

The petition says: “Heartland Park is an integral part of Topeka. Heartland Park brings a lot of racing business to the city; drag racing, road racing, dirt track racing and motorcycle racing. On any given weekend, people come from hundreds of miles away to use Heartland Park. This represents millions of dollars of money from out-of-towners that are spent in Topeka.”

The petition adds: “Please issue STAR bonds and purchase the remainder of Heartland Park so that Topeka may hire an operator to keep Heartland Park open and serving the surrounding racing community.”

A Kansas Court of Appeals ruling last week enabled the city’s governing body — which consists of the nine council members and Mayor Larry Wolgast — to proceed with finalizing the purchase of the financially troubled racing facility without a public vote.

However, the governing body won’t take up that matter until after next week’s municipal elections, in which four of the nine council seats will be up for a vote.
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Ray Irwin: Heartland Park to delay start of 2015 season

Registered member said:
Heartland Park Topeka officials confirmed Friday the auto racing facility will delay the opening of its 2015 season because of the uncertainty surrounding the proposed purchase agreement with the city of Topeka and the issuance of Sales Tax Revenue (STAR) bonds.

Heartland Park had released its 2015 schedule in early February, hoping a new management group would be in place by the start of the season, but with the Saturday Showdown dirt track series scheduled to open its season Saturday night, the agreement with the city has not yet been finalized.

Heartland Park owner Raymond Irwin confirmed in a Friday morning text message to a Capital-Journal reporter the start of the season would be delayed, and HPT director of operations Mike Walker said in a Friday afternoon interview the track is waiting to see how the situation with the city plays out.

“Not knowing what the future owner/management of Heartland Park Topeka is going to want to do, it’s basically impossible to start a race season at this time,” Walker said.

A Kansas Court of Appeals ruling last week allowed the city’s governing body — which consists of the nine council members and Mayor Larry Wolgast — to proceed with finalizing the purchase of the financially troubled racing facility without a public vote.

However, the governing body won’t take up that matter until after next week’s municipal elections, in which four of the nine council seats will be up for a vote.

With that in mind, Walker said HPT is in a wait-and-see mode concerning both the dirt track series and the E.T. Bracket Racing Series, which is scheduled to open May 9.

“I can’t start a series race if new (management) may come in and says the year-end season points payout is too much or the weekly payout is too much or they don’t want to run under the current rules so they’re going to change it,” Walker said. “New management may come in and get rid of a couple of classes at the dirt track and they might invent a new class, who knows?”

Walker said concerns about insurance also factored into HPT’s decision to delay the start of the season.

Heartland Park’s marquee event, the NHRA Kansas Nationals, remains on the NHRA schedule for May 22-24, and Walker said HPT officials are confident the event will go on as scheduled.

“I just got off a conference call with some of the guys at the NHRA about moving forward with parking plans and what needs to be done for the event, so NHRA’s still moving forward,” Walker said.
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