John, John, John
Filed under: Development, Economics, Fiscal Policy, Maryland, Neighborhoods, Salisbury Politics
Up until today my opinion of Salisbury City Administrator John Pick has been that he is an honest, hardworking public servant trying to do a difficult job under even more difficult circumstances. Come on, would you want to work for Barrie Tilghman?
Unfortunately John crossed the line today from hard working bureaucrat to political water bearer for Barrie and her “council leadershipâ€. Today John moved from civil service to political foolishness with his op/ed piece in the “Tilghman Timesâ€.
Tax Increment Financing benefits the developers of these projects, but it also benefits the community by facilitating either the development of necessary public improvements or the redevelopment of a blighted area without the local government having to pledge its full faith and credit and taxing power to the payment of debt. Instead TIF bonds are paid by tax revenues generated by the improvements to the project.
Sure enough John, you just left a couple of things out. The local government isn’t pledging its full faith and credit now, but it is loosing those millions of dollars in future tax revenue so that those bonds can be paid off. People will move into that project. They will demand services. The government will have to provide them. Where is the bulk of their tax money going? To the “Special Taxing Districtâ€. The other citizens of Salisbury will be subsidizing the bulk of the services received by these new residents.
With a TIF, neither the city nor the county is “giving up” already existing revenues. The incremental tax revenues that support a TIF would not exist “but for” the development or redevelopment of the TIF district. The creation of the TIF and the re-development of the Salisbury Mall will generate the funds to finance the infrastructure needed to make the project viable.
No John, the city isn’t giving up already existing revenues. The only problem is that when the additional services are required by the new residents moving into the project their incremental tax money will be going to pay off bonds, not to provide the services. Again John, that means that the other citizens of the city will be SUBSIDIZING them. Of course this doesn’t concern the developer. The developer is taking some of the money from the TIF and using it for demolition. Where is the rest of the money going? My guess is that some will go to water and sewer lines on site. What about the rest? Perhaps it’s going in the developers’ pockets?
Since TIF bonds are not backed by the full faith and credit of the city, as is the case with general obligation bonds, companion Special Tax Districts have also been created in the case of both the Aydelotte Farm and the Salisbury Mall to cover the same physical area as the TIF District. The STD is created to ensure that the TIF bonds will be paid, with no additional burden to the taxpayers of the entire city.
I always believed you to be a smart man John. What part of this do you not understand? The “taxpayers of the entire city†will be subsidizing the services received by this project for years to come. How can you deny this? Does Barrie Tilghman and her “council leadership†have some secret plan to deny the residents of the “Village at Salisbury Lakes†police protection? How about fire protection? EMS? Access to city streets? If not, then the “taxpayers of the entire city†will be subsidizing them.
These are facts John. Your assertion that the project won’t be built unless the developers receive this huge subsidy is a matter of opinion. If I were the developers and I knew that Barrie and her crew were the suckers that they are, I’d demand a taxpayer subsidy too. Of course this begs the question, how are you going to deny the next developer that rides into town and promises you a big, juicy subdivision … but only if THEY get a TIF too.
TIF’s displace development from areas that do not receive a subsidy to those that do. They deny local governments their full share of tax revenue. Instead of subsidizing something, try something original. Let the market work. Your boss can start by enforcing her demolition order. There are some companies out there who will do the work on spec. If Natelson, et al don’t pay the bill then you can auction off a nice, clean plot for development and pay the wrecking crew with interest. Someone will want to develop that property. If not, turn it into a park. Quality of life is not necessarily equivalent to increasing you tax base.
I guess his op/ed was John’s punishment for admitting that taxes are going up after the election.
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This is another excellent post. Mr. Pick has provided the kind of simplistic and disingenuous statement that Barrie Tilghman makes — no doubt she wrote it and told him to sign it or find other employment.
It is obvious that the mall owner (a group of investors from Baltimore) are simply using it to get huge benefits from the city. If we just told them no zoning deal until the building is demolished, that would happen in short order. Instead, thanks to Barrie and the Dream Team, for whom Mr. Pick is a paid spokesperson, the City of Salisbury may soon make them multimillionaires.
Yes, it’s a big expense, but they have a big property (about 75 acres) that can be developed. In fact, they could sell the land on Beaglin Park Drive for more than enough to pay for the demolition if they would commit to using the sales proceeds for that purpose.
To give them a $20 Million TIF subsidy (that will cost about $40 Million with the interest on the bonds) is ludicrous. They knew what they were getting when they bought the property and have let it deteriorate and become vacant.
A man that does what “Mommy,” tells him to do. He wouldn’t have that job if he disagreed.
Ya know, it just sticks in my craw that my tax money (that what pays these people) is bein’ used to write trash in the Daily Crime ’bout how they’ll be abusin’ my tax money.
–CD
The Salisbury Gestapo, is sending the old folks to the 55-plus Gulags to help developers get out of paying higher impact fees. The elderly want every equal right to be hired without discrimination, and are due to that. Along with equal pay and equal opportunity, how long will it take before a lawsuit is filed in civil court banning communities from discriminating against people with children? In this country children are born with those rights, whether that can speak up for themselves or not.