Strategic Decision-Making Capacity:
Summary and Implications
We've measured Strategic Decision-Making Capacity in five areas — decision-making structure, capacity to solve regional problems, local government finance, redevelopment and reinvestment, and education. Each chart or graph on these pages was assigned a rating based on how the Kansas City region compared to its peers or, in the case of indicators only available for the Kansas City area, on how favorably they reflected on the region. The ratings are shown in the chart below:
Average Rating: 2.08
The Kansas City area's degree of political fragmentation complicates making strategic decisions because it makes it difficult to see the region as it really is — a single, integrated economic region.
This is intensified by the way local governments must finance services by growing the tax base, which often means competition over retail trade. As a result, the region built much more retail space than it truly needs over the last decade, ultimately hurting the performance of all centers.
The competition over tax base is an attempt to keep the cost of local government small. Yet, the most successful peer cities have larger local government sectors on a per capita basis.
The region can be justifiably proud of its new downtown investment and the beginnings of a broader revitalization as exemplified by the Crossroads district. But its performance still lags that of its most successful peer metros, whose efforts began significantly earlier.
The region also apparently invests more in K-12 education than most of its peers. But its funding for higher education is generally much below the leaders, especially in Missouri. The region's life science initiative is making progress in attracting new research dollars.
Despite its fragmentation, the region has been able to push some initiatives forward that increase innovative capacity and the ability to attract talented people, as demonstrated by its downtown and life science advancement. So far, however, progress is only in the beginning stages. To sustain progress will likely require an even greater capacity to pool resources and agree on a common agenda.
What else can we do to improve as a region? Read our policy recommendations, and let us know what you think.
Next set of indicators: Institutional Performance
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