KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri Republican Gov. Eric Greitens on Wednesday vetoed use of state funds to help pay for a $96 million arts campus in downtown Kansas City, just hours after University of Missouri System officials said they would seek alternative funding in anticipation of his opposition.
Greitens released a statement slamming the legislation approved by the Legislature this spring, saying it would have allowed the state to issue up to $48 million in bonds to support the arts campus.
“You know who would have to pay that bill?” the Republican said. “You. Missouri families. I think that’s wrong.”
The veto came shortly after a statement about alternative funding was released by the Missouri Board of Curators and University of Missouri System President Mun Choi. The statement said details of funding for the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s downtown arts campus, along with its $2 million in annual operating costs, would be presented at the curators’ meeting in September.
“This approach will allow construction to begin sooner and save money by avoiding construction cost inflation on a project that will benefit the students of UMKC, the people of Kansas City and the state of Missouri,” Choi said.
Supporters of the project had raised concerns that a veto by the governor would damage efforts to raise the other $48 million from private sources. Julia Irene Kauffman has already pledged $20 million to the campus, which would be built near the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The city of Kansas City also has pledged $7 million for the project.
“The Downtown Arts Campus will be a critical element of our performing arts community. It needs to happen,” Kauffman said in a statement released earlier Wednesday, before the veto was announced. “That’s why I have supported it, and that’s why I am so grateful to Chancellor Morton and President Choi for taking this bold step to make it a reality.”
Supporters argue the arts campus could stimulate economic development while attracting more cultural activities and creative students to Missouri. Kansas City Democratic Sen. Jason Holsman has said the university hoped to create the “Julliard of the west.”
House Democratic Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty, also of Kansas City, criticized the governor’s veto.
“Eric Greitens talks a great deal about economic development, but his veto of HCR 19 exposes his words as the empty rhetoric of professional politician,” McCann Beatty said in a statement. “The extra hurdles the governor has erected will delay the jobs and economic benefits the downtown campus ultimately will generate for Kansas City.”
During debate on the issue, some lawmakers raised concerns about the cost amid the state’s budget constraints and questioned the value of more students studying the arts.
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