THE GUARDIAN received his November 2009 copy of the Caldwell East Urban Renewal Agency minutes yesterday and TVCC downtown building will cost Caldwell taxpayers $7 million in non-voter approved spending. Also, Mayor Nancolas just back from a junket to the National League of Cites has provided insight into what we need to have to please developers in the second paragraph. He seems to have forgotten about rooftops in the community as number 4 in his list to attract developers. We would also remind Mayor Nancolas about the voter approved CWI community college we all got to vote on but no vote on TVCC.
Below are a copy of the CEURA minutes for your reveiw:
"OLD BUSINESS
C/CEDC Activity Report was not available.
Chris Yamamoto, Downtown Redevelopment Director, provided an update on the downtown catalyst project. The project is on schedule; concrete will be poured this week, the steel is on order, and visible structure will be in place by the first of the year or sooner. Preliminary plans indicate the potential for a Gold LEEDS Certification. Chris raised the subject of a parking permit process to protect parking for downtown businesses. Ample parking will be available within three blocks of the TVCC building. Street patrols, downtown signage and student parking permits are several options being discussed.
Mayor Nancolas informed the board that during his recent national conference, the message heard repeatedly from big developers is that they are looking for three things when considering communities for development projects: 1) a community college, 2) an Urban Renewal Agency and 3) an active downtown revitalization plan. Caldwell is on the right track for downtown success.
NEW BUSINESS
Chairman Waite presented the Oppenheimer project letter prepared by Mark Hilty, Attorney, for review and approval. The letter establishes CEURA’s acceptance of the TVCC project and acknowledges CEURA’s involvement and project costs to date. The project budget is estimated at $7,000,000. Attorneys for Oppenheimer and urban renewal are working on the building lease agreement. Motion to accept the letter of agreement between Oppenheimer and CEURA: Hopper/Fouts M/S/P"
The "game plan" as we understand it from previous disucssion with Mr. Eljay Waite is the City/UR will own the property, the UR agency will lease the property from Oppenheimer and will then sublease the building to TVCC at a much reduced cost. The $325k/year they send back to Oregon apparently is not enough to extract from Caldwell. The real question here is how are they going to figure out who gets to pay and how much for the property taxes required by Idaho Law. City/UR may own the land but Oppenheimer will own the building and will have to pay property taxes.
Caldwell property taxes are 25.5% higher all over the area due to the amounts Urban Renewal skims right off the top. You will be getting your property tax bills this week so you can figure out how much Caldwell East Urban Renewal is costing you each year. The short math is $255.00/$1k of your tax bill.
Please get your facts straight about TVCC or better yet, when the campus is finished take a class or two and get an education. Your blind stupidity is pure arrogance and untruths.
ReplyDelete"get your fact straight?" Name calling? This person has to work for the city. What are the facts then sir?
ReplyDeleteAre you saying for every dollar I spend on taxes, $25.50 is going to them?
ReplyDeleteOr are you saying something else completely?
Every dollar you spend on property taxes in Caldwell means there is twenty five cent shift to your property tax bill even if you are not in the Urban Renewal District. Your property taxes would be about 25.5% lower if no urban renewal taxes were getting pulled out from people in the UR District.
ReplyDeleteTaxes are budget driven and determined on an individual basis via your total assessed valuation for the land and improvements multiplied by the levy rate. Urban Renewal gets their money no matter what. Remaining city tax shortfalls are made up via a tax shift to all taxpayers in the county and city. Urban Renewal money comes from property taxes.
Urban Renewal Districts are formed by the Mayor and City Council, their boards are made up of the very elected officials who formed the district. Title 20, 29 and 50 of the Idaho Code give them pretty much an open check book to fund anything they wish to fund with no voter oversight. Examples are the YMCA for $10MM, TVCC for $7MM (already funded), a new police station and library in Nampa for $68 MM (soon to be funded) and all with no vote of the people. Urban renewal boards decide and you get to pay.
It is a "trust us we know what you really need here" mentality.