KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The issue of tax breaks for developers continues to play a big role in the city's mayoral race.

Candidates Alvin Brooks and Mark Funkhouser squared off in a televised debate that aired Friday night on KCPT.

KMBC's Micheal Mahoney reported that the tax increment financing issue took up about 15 minutes of the hour-long debate. Funkhouser said the city uses TIF too much, and Brooks has generally supported Mayor Kay Barnes use of the tax incentives.

Also on Friday, the Economic Development Corp. released a report showing that the city's TIF program has a shortfall of $82 million.

Earlier this week, the city auditor's office released a draft report of the TIF program, showing that the city was short $233 million in revenues.

"I don't know how anybody can say, 'This was a good deal or this was a bad deal,' when there are no criteria -- when it's just been basically a free-for-all; when there has been no policy, no plan," Funkhouser said during the KCPT debate.

"It's quite evident they knew what was going on. You just don't helter-skelter put multimillion-dollar buildings up and construction to house people -- the plan was there," Brooks said in the debate.

KMBC Reviews Candidates' E-Mails

Meanwhile, KMBC has obtained a copy of all of the e-mails mayoral candidates sent to the auditor's office.

Councilman Chuck Eddy demanded to see the candidates' e-mails amid accusations that Funkhouser, the former city auditor, used his influence to have the TIF report released just before the mayoral election. Funkhouser has denied the accusation and said he wished the report had been released last summer when it was supposed to be ready.

Mahoney reviewed the e-mails and reported that Funkhouser stayed in contact with his former colleagues in the auditor's office after he left in late November. Almost all of the candidates' e-mails deal with Funkhouser, but there is almost nothing of a political nature in them, Mahoney reported.

A lot of the e-mails are standard business conversations; most were sent before Funkhouser retired in November.

At one point in February, Funkhouser wrote his replacement, acting City Auditor Gary White, asking if White could cover for him in a class Funkhouser teaches. In one of the e-mails, Funkhouser wrote, "I hope you're weathering the TIF wars OK."

The mayoral election is March 27.

Watch complete election coverage on KMBC 9 News and live online coverage Tuesday night on TheKansasCityChannel.com.