ORDINANCE NO. 260889
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Sponsor: Mayor Quinton Lucas
Authorizing the issuance of revenue bonds by the Missouri Development Finance Board in one or more series to finance not to exceed $560,000,000.00 of costs of the design, acquisition, construction, furnishing, equipping, and operations of a new stadium, team offices, and supporting infrastructure (the “Project”) in the Washington Square Park/Crown Center area, plus funding of related bond costs, including costs of issuance, credit enhancement, capitalized interest, rebate fund and debt service reserve fund deposits, and the like; authorizing the Director of Finance to obtain a Credit Enhancement as necessary to achieve economic benefit for the bond issuance; authorizing the execution of additional agreements as necessary to comply with the directives of this ordinance; estimating and appropriating bond proceeds in the amount of $642,063,135.00 for the purpose of providing the City’s contribution to the Project; designating requisitioning authority; providing direction to the City Manager on the funding sources for the project and future debt service; authorizing the Director of Finance to close project accounts upon completion; and recognizing this ordinance as having an accelerated effective date.
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WHEREAS, the City Council remains committed to retaining the Kansas City Royals in Kansas City and is committed to continuing good faith negotiations with the Kansas City Royals, as previously stated in Committee Substitute for Ordinance No. 260339, As Amended, Resolution No. 230656, and Ordinance No. 260032; and
WHEREAS, the City and the Kansas City Royals have negotiated a comprehensive lease agreement as well as comprehensive development and funding agreements for the Project; and
WHEREAS, Committee Substitute for Ordinance No. 260704 authorized the City Manager to execute a lease, development agreement, community impact partnership agreement, and funding agreement, and their ancillary agreements (the “Agreements”), as well as amendments and extensions thereto, with the Kansas City Royals or an affiliated entity for the development of a new stadium and team offices in the Washington Square Park /Crown Center area, and such ordinance appropriated $20,000,000.00 in bond proceeds backed by the food and beverage portion of the Convention and Sports Complex Fund; and
WHEREAS, the City wishes to request the Missouri Development Finance Board (“MDFB”) to issue its revenue bonds in one or more series (the “Bonds”), to finance not to exceed $560,000,000.00 in costs of the Project, plus funding of related bond costs, including costs of issuance, credit enhancement, capitalized interest, rebate fund and debt service reserve fund deposits and the like; and
WHEREAS, the Bonds are expected to be issued in tranches over successive fiscal years of the City as part of the funding source for payment of the costs of the Project; and
WHEREAS, it is expected that such Bonds will be issued pursuant to a trust indenture or other issuance document to be entered into between MDFB and the bond trustee named therein (the “Bond Trustee”), with supplemental indentures or other issuance documents for each series of Bonds (including any supplemental indenture, collectively, the “Bond Indenture”), and the City will enter into a financing agreement or other agreement with MDFB and the Bond Trustee, with supplemental financing agreements or other agreements for each series of Bonds (collectively the “Financing Agreement”), among other things providing for the payment of debt service on the Bonds and such other additional payments as are set forth therein, subject to annual appropriation of the City; and
WHEREAS, the City finds and determines that in order to finance a portion of the costs of the Project, it is necessary and desirable to approve the issuance by MDFB of the Bonds; and
WHEREAS, by separate enactment, the City is approving a Downtown Stadium Tax Increment Financing Plan (the “TIF Plan”), the purpose of which is to provide funding for a portion of the cost of the Project including payment of debt service on the Bonds; and
WHEREAS, by separate enactment, the City is approving a stadium impact area (the “Impact Area”), the purpose of which is to provide funding for a portion of the cost of the Project including payment of debt service on the Bonds from incremental tax revenues generated from such Impact Area; and
WHEREAS, the City has authorized, and hereby reaffirms, the application by the City for all financing sources which may be available for funding of a portion of the cost of the Project, including funding from or on behalf of the State of Missouri and its agencies; and
WHEREAS, the City further finds and determines that it is necessary and desirable in connection with the issuance of the Bonds that the City execute and deliver certain documents and that the City take certain other actions as herein provided; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KANSAS CITY:
Section 1. The City Manager is authorized to request, direct, and instruct MDFB to issue, and to consent to and approve the issuance by MDFB of, the Bonds in one or more series in the aggregate principal amount sufficient to finance a portion of the costs of the Project in the amount not to exceed $560,000,000.00, plus such amount as is needed to pay costs of issuance, credit enhancement, capitalized interest, fund a deposit to the rebate fund and debt service reserve fund and the like for each series of Bonds. Each series of Bonds shall be dated the date set forth in the applicable Bond Indenture and form of bond. The Bonds shall bear interest at rates initially not to exceed a true interest cost equal to the yield of the 30-year MMD benchmark for obligations in the lowest rating category assigned to the Bonds at the time of sale, plus 5.00%. For any taxable series, the true interest cost shall not exceed the yield of the comparable 30-year taxable MMD benchmark (or successor taxable municipal market index) for obligations in the lowest rating category assigned to such Bonds at the time of sale, plus 5.00%. The Bonds shall have such series designations and other terms and provisions as shall be provided in the Bond Indenture and in the applicable bond purchase agreement approved by the City Manager or the Director of Finance.
Section 2. The City Manager is authorized and directed to approve the purchase price for each series of the Bonds upon the issuance thereof, the principal amounts by maturity, the interest rates, the terms of credit enhancement and the other final terms of each series of the Bonds, including applicable redemption provisions, subject to the limitations set forth in Section 1.
Section 3. The City Manager is authorized to approve the applicable documents relating to the financing (the “Financing Documents”), and the Director of Finance or City Manager is authorized to execute any document to which the City is a party, upon the approval of the City Manager, including but not limited to the following: (a) Bond Indenture; (b) Financing Agreement; (c) Tax Compliance Agreement and related exhibits to the Tax Compliance Agreement relating to any series of tax-exempt Bonds setting forth certain representations, facts, expectations, terms and conditions relating to the use and investment of the proceeds of the Bonds, to establish and maintain the exclusion of interest on the Bonds from gross income for federal income tax purposes, and to provide guidance for complying with the arbitrage rebate provisions of Section 148(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; (d) Continuing Disclosure Undertaking under which the City, as an obligated person with respect to the Bonds, agrees to provide continuing disclosure of certain financial information, operating data and material events, for the benefit of the owners of the Bonds and to assist the Underwriters thereof in complying with Rule 15c2-12 of the Securities and Exchange Commission; and (e) Bond Purchase Agreement with the underwriters of the Bonds under which the issuer agrees to sell and the underwriters agree to purchase the Bonds upon such terms and conditions are set forth therein.
Section 4. The Director of Finance is authorized to approve and deem final any Preliminary Official Statement and any final Official Statement for the offering and sale of the Bonds, with the signature of the Director of Finance on any certificate relating thereto being conclusive evidence of the Director's approval and the City's approval thereof. The City hereby consents to the use and public distribution of any Preliminary Official Statement and any final Official Statement in connection with the offering for sale of each series of the Bonds.
Section 5. The Director of Finance is authorized to obtain and/or assist MDFB in obtaining a bond insurance policy, letter of credit or other credit enhancement (“Credit Enhancement”) for the Bonds and the purchase or a surety bond or debt service reserve fund policy for any debt service reserve fund, if necessary or desired, from a credit provider with such credit rating that, in the opinion of the underwriters, the City’s and/or MDFB’s financial advisors and the Director of Finance, there will be achieved an economic benefit for the City if the Bonds are secured by such Credit Enhancement, and that such Credit Enhancement is obtained consistent with the provisions of City Code of Ordinances Section 2-1990(i). The purchase of such Credit Enhancement and the entering into of such agreements with respect thereto as may be necessary or appropriate are hereby approved. Such Credit Enhancement may be such type, in such amount and provided by such entity or entities as the Director of Finance shall determine to be in the best interest of the City. The officials of the City are authorized and directed to execute all documents, agreements, instruments and certificates in connection with such Credit Enhancement.
Section 6. The officials of the City are further authorized and directed to execute such documents, instruments, and certificates and to take such further actions on behalf of the City as shall be necessary or desirable to affect the terms and provisions of this Ordinance.
Section 7. That revenue in the following account of Fund No. 3459, the Special Obligation Downtown Stadium Bond Fund, is hereby increased in the following amount:
AL-3459-120000-590000 Bond Proceeds $608,974,815.00
AL-3459-120000-485100 Premium on Sale of Bonds 33,088,320.00
TOTAL $642,063,135.00
Section 8. That the sum of $ 641,454,160.00 is hereby appropriated from the Unappropriated Fund Balance of Fund No. 3459, the Special Obligation Downtown Stadium Bonds Fund, to the following accounts in the following amounts:
AL-3459-105012-10DWNSTDMDIS Capital Proj. Consulting $560,000,000.00
AL-3459-129612-G Capitalized Interest 61,277,600.00
AL-3459-129620-G Cost of Issuance 6,883,663.00
AL-3459-129632-G Discount on Sale of Bonds 9,438,004.00
AL-3459-129631-G Underwriter Discount 4,391,868.00
AL-3459-129686-B Rebate Fund 72,000.00
TOTAL $642,063,135.00
Section 9. That the Director of Finance is designated as the requisitioning authority for Accounts Nos. AL-3459-129612-G, AL-3459-129620-G, AL-3459-129632-G, AL-3459-129631-G, AL-3459-129686-B, and that the City Manager is designated as requisition authority for Account No. AL-3459-105012-B.
Section 10. That the Director of Finance is hereby authorized to modify the previously approved estimated revenues and appropriations in Sections 7 and 8 as required to correctly record the budgetary amounts finalized through the sale of the Bonds into the marketplace.
Section 11. That the Director of Finance is hereby authorized to close accounts, open encumbrances and retainage related to the accounts in Sections 7 and 8 and return the unspent portion to the Fund balance from which it came upon the earliest of: (i) the provisions of this ordinance; (ii) final maturity of financing, or (iii) five years after the last issuance.
Section 12. That the City Manager is hereby directed to utilize incremental revenues generated by the stadium, the TIF Plan and the Impact Area, and other revenue sources described in the funding agreement if applicable, to the extent needed, for the payment of debt service on the Bonds and support of payment of Project costs, subject to annual appropriation if applicable.
Section 13. The Mayor, City Manager, Director of Finance, and other officials, agents and employees of the City as required, are authorized and directed to take such further action, and execute such other documents, certificates, and instruments as may be necessary or desirable to carry out and comply with the intent of this Ordinance and to carry out, comply with, and perform the duties of the City with respect to the Bonds and the application to MDFB for the issuance of the Bonds, the TIF Plan and the receipt of revenues therefrom, the Impact Area and the receipt of revenues therefrom and related matters. The City has previously provided, and hereby reaffirms, that such officials, agents and employees are authorized and directed to submit applications for all financing sources which may be available for funding of a portion of the cost of the Project, including but not limited to funding from or on behalf of the State of Missouri and its agencies, whether under the Show-Me Sports Investment Act or otherwise, and the negotiation and execution agreements necessary to carry out the same.
Section 14. That the City Manager is hereby directed to identify $20,000,000.00 from the Question 1 Street, Sidewalks, and Bridges, of the 2017 General Obligation Bond Series to support downtown stadium district roadway improvements in the fiscal year 2028-2032, five-year general obligation bond plan.
Section 15. That the City Manager is hereby directed to utilize the following sources, to the extent needed to support total project costs of $600,000,000.00:
• Up to $560,000,000.00 from bond proceeds backed by the incremental revenues generated by the stadium, TIF Plan and Impact Area, and other revenue sources described in the funding agreement if applicable. To the extent other sources are available, the City Manager is directed to utilize those prior to or in lieu of this source.
• Up to $20,000,000.00 previously appropriated bond proceeds from the food and beverage portion of the convention and tourism tax.
• Up to $20,000,000.00 from Question 1 Street, Sidewalks, and Bridges, of the 2017 General Obligation Bond Series to support downtown stadium district roadway improvements.
Section 16. The City has previously made and expects to make capital expenditures in connection with the Project after the date of this Ordinance and the City intends to reimburse itself for such expenditures with proceeds of the Bonds. In Ordinance No. _260339, passed April 16, 2026, the City declared its intent to issue tax-exempt obligations. The City hereby reaffirms such declaration. This Ordinance constitutes an official declaration of intent to issue tax-exempt obligations, adopted pursuant to U.S. Treasury Regulation Section 1.150-2.
Section 17. That this ordinance, appropriating funds and relating to the design, repair, maintenance or construction of a public improvement, is recognized as an ordinance with an accelerated effective date as provided by Sections 503(a)(3)(C) and (D) of the City Charter and shall take effect in accordance with those sections.
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I hereby certify that there is a balance, otherwise unencumbered, to the credit of the appropriation to which the foregoing expenditure is to be charged, and a cash balance, otherwise unencumbered, in the treasury, to the credit of the fund from which payment is to be made, each sufficient to meet the obligation hereby incurred.
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Brenton Siverly
Director of Finance
Approved as to form:
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Samuel Miller
Associate City Attorney