You know the old saying: “What would get you fired in the private sector gets you promoted in government”? Topeka just wrote the textbook example — and handed taxpayers the bill.
In October 2023, the city (through the Topeka Development Corporation) bought the distressed Hotel Topeka at City Center for $7,668,750. They threw another $554,000 at a consultant (REVPAR International), spent millions more on operations and deferred maintenance, racked up $14 million in financing and interest, and ran the place themselves. Total sunk cost: roughly $18 million.
In December 2025 they sold it to Endeavor Hotel Group for $1 million. Net loss to Topeka taxpayers: $17 million. That’s not a rounding error. That’s real money that could have fixed roads, hired police, or stayed in your pocket.
And who was the official Project Manager quarterbacking the entire play-calling from day one? Braxton Copley.
He presented the optimistic budgets to the TDC Board. He signed off on the consultant contract. He pushed the self-management strategy even after REVPAR’s report explicitly warned: spend $10 million to renovate and brand it (think Hilton DoubleTree), then sell it to a private operator by the end of 2024. The city ignored that advice, tried to run a hotel with zero hospitality experience, watched occupancy crater to half of projections, and bled cash at $1.75 million a year.
While those losses were still mounting, what happened to the guy in charge?
August 2024: Braxton Copley was promoted from Public Works Director to Assistant/Deputy City Manager. Bigger title. Bigger salary. Now he oversees infrastructure and development for the whole city — the exact areas his $17 million flop just damaged.
Fast-forward to March 2026. The same Braxton Copley is standing in front of the City Council recommending — and the council approving — a brand-new 2% Community Improvement District (CID) sales tax plus Transient Guest Tax hikes so the city can “reimburse itself” over the next 20–35 years. Translation: you and I are being taxed for decades to pay back the hole he helped dig.
Imagine this exact scenario in the private sector.
A division head at a hotel company buys a distressed property, ignores the $554,000 expert report screaming “let professionals run this,” runs it into the ground for two years, sells at a 90%+ loss, then tells customers, “Oh, and we’re adding a new surcharge to your bill so we can recoup our mistake.”
How long before the boardroom door hits him on the way out? About 30 seconds. Pink slip, severance (maybe), and a reputation that follows him forever. That’s how real accountability works when it’s your own money — or your shareholders’ money — on the line.
But in the public sector? Failure isn’t punished. It’s rewarded with a promotion and more power. No personal financial risk. No pink slip. Just bigger budgets, more staff under you, and a new tax to make the public pay for your “strategic investment.”
The ultimate insult? The private company that bought the hotel for $1 million is now doing exactly what the $554,000 consultant recommended two years ago: renovating, rebranding, and operating it like a real business. The same plan the city was too arrogant to follow.
This isn’t just one bad hotel deal. This is the perfect illustration of why government should stay out of running businesses. Cities are terrible at picking winners because they don’t face market discipline. Losses don’t come out of the decision-maker’s pocket — they come out of yours.
Topeka leaders love to talk about “economic development” and “no taxpayer burden.” Remember those promises? 50,000 room nights a year, $1 million in sales tax, $440,000 in Transient Guest Tax, $20 million annual economic impact — all with “no burden on taxpayers.”
We got half the occupancy, zero of the promised new revenue, $17 million down the drain, and new taxes to cover it.
Braxton Copley called every play. He got the promotion anyway.
If you’re a Topeka taxpayer tired of this game, it’s time to demand real accountability — not another title and another tax. Because in the private sector they’d have already said two words to the quarterback:
“You’re fired.”
