Special Privilege for the Privileged Few
By
Ron West
In the current election rhetoric the incumbents
have said that I – and thereby the challengers to the incumbents were opposed
to a new library and new recreation center.
This is partially correct in that I have stated opposition to the
methods used to finance these items without voter approval. It is my understanding that the challengers
are supportive of the initiatives already under way such as the new library and
recreation center. The spokesman for the
incumbents recently suggested that I should identify any positions where the
challengers differed from my own stated positions and this is just one of the
areas of difference.
I have been a resident of NRH since 1982 and have only
become active in local politics in the last few years as the local government
took more and more steps that I found personally offensive. Their current position of providing special
privileges for the special few is an example of what I call offensive.
The incumbents on the council were party to the creation
of a new Tax Increment Financing District #2 to “encourage development” of one
of the last remaining large tracts of developable land in our city. It was not blighted nor in need of economic
stimulus. The proposition was done with
only the wisdom of the council and the developer who is now bragging about 51
consecutive concessions from this council.
It was not submitted to the voters despite the obvious impact on them.
Tax Increment Financing Districts (TIF’s)
– under state law – are supposed to be no more than 10% residential – but our
TIF#2 is already 25% residential and growing to be over 75% residential. I am certain that our City Attorney would
quickly point out that there is no language in law to dissolve TIFs that change to become in violation of the state law
nor is there anyone with enough money to challenge the actions of the
council. The development – Hometown NRH
– has been called “visionary” by the developers because of its design as a
closed neighborhood designed to be “walking distance” to parks and work
areas. By design, the streets are narrow
with on street parking encouraged to “calm” (i.e., restrict) traffic flow. The current design has two primary entrances
to this neighborhood. (Other entrances
may be added later I hope.) In a
nutshell this is a nice, high quality neighborhood designed to keep outsiders
(like the rest of the citizens of NRH) out.
Prior to creation of TIF#2, the land and existing
development in the area set aside for TIF#2, was valued at approximately $40
Million dollars. This yields
approximately $228,000 total tax dollars through property taxes to the city
each year. By creation of the TIF#2 –
the $228,000 is all the money available annually, to the city for street
maintenance, utility maintenance, fire protection, police protection and all
administrative services for the next 27
years from the Hometown area. All
new taxes from all the new construction is moved to the TIF and the closed administration
of a board elected by our City Council.
Under the TIF, this board can borrow money using the new taxes – or
taxes paid by the rest of the citizens – to pay it back. Bottom line is that the virtually the entire
tax burden for all city services to Hometown NRH is paid for by all the other
citizens of the city. This is not the
fault of the new residents there, rather an administrative decision by our
elected officials without our input. The
total amount of money moved off budget by this TIF is projected to be over $85
Million dollars over the life of the TIF!
To put it another way, the rest of us have to pay $85 Million in
additional taxes to cover what is being moved to the pet projects of TIF#2.
So where does the money they have moved out of the
“general fund” go? One of the announced
intentions is for a new $10 Million plus library to replace our current library
that is ranked #3 in the state. This has
been publicly justified by the expansion of
The
new library will be designed to be convenient to the privileged few in Hometown
NRH while the rest of the city has to access it through an area designed to
exclude them. The location of the
library, by encouraging traffic in a sub-division designed to exclude such
traffic is at best contradictory. I
guess since it will be in “walking distance” to the privileged few in Hometown,
and since the area is designed to discourage outside traffic, the city can
safely project less use of the library thereby eliminating the need for
parking?
A second stated use in the amount of $27 Million is a new
recreation center and all the comments about the library apply to it also. Location is convenient for Hometown NRH
residents but by design, inconvenient for all the rest of NRH. It too, will be closer to
So what do we have?
We have a plan to allow our council to spend $85 Million without input
or approval of the people who have to pay for it. We have a plan to appease a sub-division at
the expense of all other taxpayers in the city.
We have a TIF that was formed knowingly wrongfully according to state
law.
So who benefits?
The Hometown NRH residents must be identified as the primary obvious
beneficiaries. They are getting the
library and recreation center that has served the city so well for a number of
years. The private buyer of the prime
land the library sets on will probably get a pretty good deal on the land – if
that deal is not already made in secret.
The council members will get their ego’s stroked by having their name on
plaques in the library, recreation center and probably some other “buildings”
such as a new city hall at a future date.
The developer of Hometown NRH is another obvious beneficiary.
Who will be the losers if any? All the other citizens of the city who have
to pay for all city services to Hometown NRH for the next 27 years. All of us who will not have convenient
access to either the library or recreation center when they are relocated. If the taxes skimmed from Hometown NRH don’t
meet projections, then all the rest of the citizens have to pony up for the
difference for debt incurred by the closed board of the TIF.
This is not a treatise against a new library or a new
recreation center, rather an outside look at how our local government is
operating. If there is to really be a
new library, then why not submit it to the voters in the city for
approval. If there is to be a new
recreation center, then submit it to the voters. I am opposed to the method and actions of the
current council in running over the citizens of the city to benefit themselves
and their privileged few constituents. I
don’t have a clue as to whether the challengers can or would be interested in
changing any of planned projects of the current incumbents but I feel certain
they would at least let us know what they were doing and honestly tell us why.
As it currently stands, the privileged few are benefiting
at the expense of all of the rest of the citizens of NRH! If the current incumbents are re-elected, we
can surely expect them to continue to reward the closed club of developers and
special interests that has been running our city for the past 12 years.