Pretty interesting explanatory story on use of retail TIF in Salina, with echos of the debate here in Ark City.
What I found most interesting is that the Salina chamber of commerce ceo argues against using tax increment financing TIF for industrial development.
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8 comments:
From your article:
While city officials believe the TIF district is working, City Commissioner Aaron Householter does not believe the city will see much of a benefit.
"The (sales tax) numbers can be tricky," said Householter, who questioned the Kohl's TIF when he was a member of the Salina Planning Commission. "If someone thinks that $100,000 (in 2010) is all new dollars, they are crazy. It is not newly generated, but money that would have been spent elsewhere on clothes."
Householter said he would rather reinvest money into businesses in the community instead of just giving money to new businesses.
"There perception to other businesses that we are giving another retail business money to come to town," Householter said. "I don't like corporate welfare. It is a little slap in the face to other business owners."
Householter said he believes TIF districts should be used for areas of true blight, not just land that is in a floodplain. He also doesn't want the city to automatically set up TIF districts around the city.
"If someone thinks that $100,000 (in 2010) is all new dollars, they are crazy. It is not newly generated, but money that would have been spent elsewhere on clothes."
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That doesn't work here in AC because the majority of people shop out of town, so 100k in new tax revenue would be a huge benefit.
That doesn't work here in AC because the majority of people shop out of town, so 100k in new tax revenue would be a huge benefit.
I guess the part you missed is:
That the sales tax dollars aren't creating new businesses, stores, or wealth for the locals! (Except for some of the speculators/developers who get their money upfront and the retailers who are located out of town and/or State!)
Plus,
Have you been to the new Menards in Wichita? (I heard someone say it's a Lowes on steroids!)
So, there will always (in someones view) be a need or opportunity to shop out of town!
I don't think the area has the population to play on that scale.
Who is going to rebuild the old parts of town or the real "Blighted" areas? (They are going to cost you whether you like it or not! Especially with an aging population.)
Here we go again from the naysayers. TIF's can't or shouldn't be used for retail developments? Retail developments don't bring in jobs or any other revenue to the community? What??? It looks like they will pay off the bonds early if everything keeps going as it has. Look around at the cities that are growing or have vision and see what they are doing to keep their communities alive (it usually includes TIF's).
"There perception to other businesses that we are giving another retail business money to come to town," Householter said. "I don't like corporate welfare. It is a little slap in the face to other business owners."
I agree with him 100%. What are we doing to help our struggling downtwn businesses? We don't have many left and I don't see a lot of new ones coming to town. We need to encourage growth in both places. But the small businesses shouldn't carry the tax burden of the large corporation that can more afford to pay their share.
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What would you say to the local business owners who have loans, bills to pay and assets in the community like property buildings/homes and vehicles?
Are you going to make their payments in the event you subsidize their competitors?
I didn't think so -
Government shouldn't be used to determine competition - and especially when/where Speculators lobby/benefit!
Corporate welfare? Really? Don't think so! People who are willing to pay extra sales tax will shop there. People who don't want to pay extra tax won't. And the business PAYS ALL of their property tax (it's just used to pay off the infrastructure improvements for that project). And in 10-20 years all of the extra tax revenue is spread throughout the community.
What are we doing to help our local businesses??? Apparently not shopping local! Maybe they should provide goods and services that people want. These same local businesses have the exact same opportunity to get TIF's and numerous other incentives. The local businesses need to ask, look at their business goals and change with the times or risk going out of business.
Apparently not doing TIF's didn't help several downtown businesses (they still went out of business). Now what does AC have? Even less businesses and even less tax revenue! Not a good combination!
I see you have resorted to editing your blog so the posts slant toward your views!
Its no doubt your blog - but is it a true cross section of the PEOPLES opinions?
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