City eyes economic policies

CALLUS · Veteran Member

RE: City eyes economic policies

motherof2 · Senior Member

Good! Good! Good! I am happy to see Patrick and the City Manager (and others, I'm sure) putting these packets together and setting ground rules for new businesses and city assistance. Way to go!

AC1st · Member

Callus,

We need more uniform standards. I'm hoping that by putting these policies in place, we can eliminate some past abuses. For instance: a new business or new investment in an existing business or a new development should NOT automatically qualify for a 100% tax abatement for 10 years.

We will put a scale in place that will base those decisions on additional factors like the number of new jobs created or the dollar amount of total property investment, etc. Why give it all away? I believe abatements CAN be an appropriate means for encouraging local growth and investment. I understand that there are those who disagree with this basic premise.

Without policies like this in place, in the past these abatements have been granted in full whether it was 10 new jobs or 100 new jobs created. There are other reasons to tighten things up and make them more systematic. All of the policies we are going over are actually already in place. We are simply reviewing them and combining them into a comprehensive package. Whatever we do will make them better than what they are.

After we get that done, I think we need a wholesale review to determine if some should be tossed out or replaced altogether. For instance, I'm not convinced that a TIF is an appropriate mechanism for use in a town of our size. TIF's were originally intended for use in blighted areas of much larger municipalities to help clean them up and bring in new investment. I am not convinced that they will work here and there are others involved with economic development elsewhere who are beginning to study those issues.

Hope that helps.

motherof2 · Senior Member

Curious, a few years back I overheard a gentlement in Bryant's Hardware bragging about getting money from the city to buy the lot across from McDonald's (long before Wal-Green's purchased it) because he promised to relocate his current business and bring in more jobs. I couldn't help but notice that he did not follow through. Instead, he relocated to downtown. What happens at that point? Would a person be required to pay the city back? I'm sure he made a pretty penny when he sold it. I hope he was not given money for his 2nd relocation site as well.

To me, this is an excellent example of regulations needed.

Elee · Veteran Member

http://zipskinny.com/index.php?zip=67005

Check out his site, it is enlightning. I was curious to notice the percentage of high school graduates posted on this site as being below average. This goes along with some of the comments on the school testing poll.

And notice the lower economic status of this area....lots of low wage jobs here, lots of poorer people here, education means alot when looking for work. Very interesting.

numbers76 · Member

This lot was not developed by the individual because the city would not zone it for commercial use at that time. The neighbors protested and the business located futher to the South on Summit. Obviously when Walgreen was able to get proper zoning the individual sold the land but I doubt very seriously the city ever gave him any funds to buy the lot.