Voters overwhelmingly rejected Article 19 to allow the Town to establish Tax Incentive Financing (TIF) districts. Whether they did so for lack of knowledge or because they did not favor such a move is unclear. However, before any more time is spent by the Economic Development Commission (EDC) this should be determined. Selectman Chartrand in the latest Board of Selectmen meeting stated that the EDC would be regrouping on a TIF proposal. (In fact it seems they are planning to hire a consultant to put together a TIF plan.) To avoid this being another example of the Town ignoring the will of the people and spending more money, open hearings should be held.
Contrary to Chartrand's comment before elections that there had been plenty of open meetings on the subject, all were at 8 a.m. (when most people work), except for immediately before the election. The EDC should schedule and advertise a set of meetings, in the evening on two or three weekdays, to present their plan going forward. This would provide the transparency that Chartrand so vehemently says exists in Town affairs. It would provide the opportunity for feedback to the EDC to determine if what they propose to pursue would likely meet a favorable outcome. Not following this process reeks of past practices of repackaging in the hopes of finally selling their product.
How many times have we seen downtown beautification projects repackaged into warrant articles only to be voted down? Is TIF just another attempt at this? We saw the Reynes Roof replacement repackaged from a $30 thousand warrant article only to be rejected and then slipped into the Town budget at $22 thousand to make it more difficult for voters to reject if they still desired to do so. (We learned the Conservation Commission had the necessary money for the repair, but apparently did not feel the priority was high enough to spend that money, hence sought more money.) Let's stop playing games and deal openly with the voters.
If you read the minutes of the last EDC meeting you will see that some of the members put up a motion to send the TIF back to the Selectboard for them to give the EDC direction on what to do next. That motion was voted down 4-5. As least one person felt that sometimes it is 3 times a charm in order to get something passed. I do feel that that kind of thing is a slap in the face to voters.
ReplyDeleteSo I guess that means that defeated Selectman Ferraro shouldn't run again, since the voters have spoken?
DeleteIt seems that those people pushing another attempt at a TIF are elitists. It is obvious that a TIF in the downtown is unlikely to slow down the growth in our property taxes, but apparently that is not a focus of those committee members. After all, elitists do know better than the voters. At least that is what they think.
ReplyDeleteWaiting for the Agenda to be posted for the next Subcommittee TIF meeting April 4 - 8 AM-10PM. I agree- what is the updated mission statement of this committee based on the will expressed by the voters 16 days ago...."No TIF zone appropriations"
ReplyDeleteThey are hiding in plain sight! Eight am on a work day! How many members of the general public have attended these meetings? If any, were they retired? What kind of transparency is that?
ReplyDeleteE. W.
What are/is the unspoken project(s) waiting in the wings that would benefit from a TIF semi-autonomous group with its own budget? There appears to be a driving force that has not been disclosed to the public that is providing thrust to keep this moving forward without consideration for the poll results that said otherwise.
ReplyDeleteThis is why government is so useful: government cronies get to do each other favors to help their bottom line and prevent honest competition in the market.
ReplyDelete