KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Is a critical City Hall report being held back for political reasons?

KMBC's Micheal Mahoney reported that a city performance audit of Tax Increment Financing, known as TIF, was supposed to be out last June, then last December, then January, February and now late March. But it may be released after the city elections on March 27.

"It is being held for political reasons because they don't like the message it has," said mayoral candidate Mark Funkhouser.

TIF is part of the backbone of the downtown building boom, Mahoney reported.

Funkhouser's criticism of it as a sweetheart deal for big developers is a major part of his campaign. But when Funkhouser was city auditor, he postponed publishing the TIF report.

Mahoney reported the first goal was last June. A draft of the report was ready in December right after Funkhouser retired. But his replacement, acting city auditor Gary White, said the TIF audit was ready in January.

"Was that report complete on January 29, and did you believe that was a complete report?" Mahoney asked White.

"Yes, that's what I thought. Yes, I did," White said.

One thing in the report is that the city manager should get is a better financial prediction before a TIF is approved. Mahoney said that is when the City Finance Committee steps in. Three of its members, Al Brooks, Chuck Eddy and John Fairfield, were running for mayor. All of them said TIFs helped revive downtown.

In February, just before the city primary, the finance committee send a memo asking the auditor to send his report to the Economic Development Corporation. The EDC crunches the numbers on most TIF applications.

"It was absolutely necessary for them (EDC) to be involved in that. You can't audit any department or any area without having the people who're being audited allowed to respond to that," Eddy said.

The EDC claims that some of the auditor's numbers were incomplete. White then asked for more time.

"Our policy is to review that and make some assessments and then decide if we need to make changes to the report," White said.

Since the EDC is a big player in approving TIF projects, Mahoney reported that it is only fair that they have a chance to respond to what they believe is a critical report.