ROCK PORT, Mo. — One grocery store is apparently not enough for a tax increment finance board in Rock Port.

A group of developers looking to establish a new 10,000-square-foot grocery store is requesting $175,000 in TIF help. The TIF board met Thursday and listened to the developers and the owners of what is currently the sole grocery store in town — Rock Port Market.

Community members spoke for and against the TIF before the board voted unanimously and without discussion to approve the financing.

Miles Leisman, who owns Rock Port Market along with his father and two brothers, pointed to an alleged violation of the state’s open records and meetings law. He said a notice for a City Council meeting where the TIF was discussed occurred May 12. The notice published in the local paper said the meeting was to take place May 13.

“This is a railroad job,” Mr. Leisman said after the meeting.

The Atchison County commissioners will have final say on the matter when they meet in two weeks.

Matthew Leisman, whose family has owned grocery stores in the county since 1932, said the family doesn’t mind competition. But the TIF, they say, will provide an unfair advantage to the new store, which would be located at the intersection of highways 136 and 111 in Rock Port.

Chris Sally, an associate with Development Initiatives Inc., out of Kansas City, argued for the Leismans Thursday. He said the TIF will unfairly take customers from the existing store and tax money from the public from a business that is already filling the needs of the town.

Mr. Sally argued that the TIF should be used to bring in businesses that don’t currently exist in the town — a car dealership, farm equipment company, clothing store or grain company — to generate financial growth and improvements to the community.

W.C. Farmer, one of the developers, told the TIF board that although his group is looking for some tax breaks, they’re not asking for payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOTS).

“We didn’t want to touch any of that,” Mr. Farmer said, adding that they would be willing to pay the first $21,000 in taxes before any TIF money would be redirected toward their investment.

An official with Affiliated Foods, which supplies Rock Port Market, said their projections show that the area can support two stores. Mr. Sally said those estimates, which are two-and-a-half times the current sales, are way off.

“The biggest loser is the taxpayer,” Mr. Sally said.

Jimmy Myers can be reached

at jimmym@npgco.com.