A vote by the Taxing Entity Committee to approve the BDO RDA extension would constitute a flagrant breach of the fiduciary duties owed by committee members to the taxpayers of Weber County
In Thurday's Weber County Forum writeup and analysis, Dan Schroeder reported that the proposed extension of a then unspecified redevelopment area "would divert property tax revenue from the various taxing entities to the field house project" and that the an extension of such an RDA area "would presumably require a vote of the Taxing Entity Committee, whose members represent several of the larger taxing entities."
Today's Standard-Examiner story now identifies the particular RDA area which would be subject to Boss Godfrey's knuckle-headed financing scheme and reports that $15 million would come from a 5-year extension of tax increment collection from Business Depot Ogden (BDO) beyond its scheduled expiration in 2019:
BDO tax income is about as reliable a source of tax revenue as any taxing entity could hope for; and in our view these taxing entities would have to have rocks in their heads to give up five years of reliable tax revenue and go along with Boss Godfrey's BDO-based RDA extension scheme. In our never humble opinion, the approval of a five-year extension of the BDO area RDA would not serve the best interests of these taxing entities; and a vote by the Taxing Entity Committee to approve such an extension would constitute a flagrant breach of the fiduciary duties owed by individual committee members to the taxpayers of Weber County.
Although Ogden City Community and Economic Development Director Richard McConkie suggests that the $15 million in lost tax revenue "could ultimately be offset and surpassed by taxes generated by downtown development sparked by the field house," it's not the role of tax entity committee members to gamble with taxpayer money on "iffy projects."
That's our opinion and we're stickin' with it.
And what say our gentle readers about all this?
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4 comments:
Looks like the new Gov. of California thinks RDAs are more then a waste of money, but are actually robbing the citizens. As Boss Godrey calls for more robbery:
http://www.contracostatimes.com/daniel-borenstein/ci_17162783?nclick_check=1
Southsider:
Thanks very much for the link. Very good article. Here's how it begins:
THE SCREAMS from cities about Gov. Jerry Brown's plans to disband about 400 redevelopment agencies across the state are shameful and hypocritical. "Š
While city officials claim the state is trying to raid their funds, it's actually the cities, using their redevelopment agencies, that have been siphoning billions of dollars from badly needed government services and spending the money on projects that often have little to do with cleaning up blight.
The redevelopment scam, which has turned into a windfall for developers, bond marketers, planning consultants and professional sports teams, has racked up $88 billion in public debt statewide -- without voter approval. It should have been ended decades ago. Kudos to the governor for finally taking it on.
The RDA, similar to eminent domain, was once a great idea to improve communities and ultimately to stimulate much needed local revitalization - and it worked. It worked so well that local elected officials and other players in the urban growth machine took great advantage of it. Kudos to California for taking steps to rectify this out of control behavior. Hopefully Utah's powers-that-be will take notice.
Compelling article, Southsider.
Thanks.
And for our gentle readers' convenience, here's a live link:
Daniel Borenstein: Brown is right to disband redevelopment agencies
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