With the latest news that another developer is trying to roll the city with a massive TIF, now is the time for a comprehensive TIF study. But this study can’t come from the city or from private developers. The study needs to be conducted by one of our Public Universities as a student research project. Anything the city or a private developer will produce will be fudged. Remember the siding report that mysteriously disappeared? Or the 2nd one that was edited by public works?
The study needs to determine if there has been an actual economic impact in job growth, personal wealth, ect. Over the past decade (especially since the 2008 recession) while development growth has been record breaking, we also have to realize that crime has increased, taxes and fees have gone up at record rates, housing has gotten more expensive, wages have remained stagnant and food banks and kitchens are expanding more and more.
If TIFs have helped anybody, it has certainly been the developers bottom line, because like Reaganomics it certainly hasn’t trickled down to shrinking middle class.
We need to see a study and it needs to be independent.
REALLY good idea to have a public university do such a study !
That would make sense, but I have a feeling the planning department will pull something from their butts showing all the data about population growth and building permits while ignoring the fact that our property taxes are going thru the roof. Mine have doubled in 15 years and that was just because of op-outs and normal percentage increases. They also know they have the votes to pass this, but they’ll play the game of ‘We are asking for $25 million but will compromise to $10 million.’
Do the Republican thing. Order a 6 month consultant investigation that’s 600 pages for a million or so. Then have the city attorney present a one sentence statement exonerating collusion with the developer. Try a state lawsuit and eventually get 600 pages of redaction except for page numbers. Win the case months after a new mayor is elected.
Or you could do a Mueller like thing with a bunch of attorneys and fbi agents looking for all of the things you claim are wrong; then two years later decide that maybe no collusion existed with developers and that while you don’t like the system nothing is really wrong with it
MJ. Maybe??? All we’ve seen so far is the barr report, a trump appointee and lemming. I’ll wait for the full Mueller report…and trumps income tax returns. I like Colberts analysis.
That’s like tuning in to see the new season of ‘Game of Thrones’ and it’s just Barr holding a sign that says, ‘Dragons did some stuff. The end.’†— STEPHEN COLBERT
An interesting and simple comparison would be to place the currently forecasted Sioux Falls School District budget shortfall alongside the annual tax revenue which the district must forego from tax parcels included in the entire list of TIF projects approved in the City of Sioux Falls.
… and for those who claim that the State compensates school districts for the tax revenue given away to TIF projects – the FY2020 SF School District budget has 917,000 reasons saying that you are not correct.
“… and for those who claim that the State compensates school districts for the tax revenue given away to TIF projects – the FY2020 SF School District budget has 917,000 reasons saying that you are not correct.”
Uh, you need to pass that knowledge onto Councilwoman Erickson. She is the one who suggested that, when they approved the last major TIF along the “Phillips to the Falls” road.
#MoreTIFsMeansLessTeacherPay