Alturas Meeting

["bill london" <bill_london@hotmail.com>]

I was not able to attend the Council committee discussion of Alturas Park 
yesterday.  Fritz Knorr went, asked a couple of questions that I had, and 
sent me the responses.
I am forwarding his message since there may be others who want to know a 
little more about Alturas.  BL

>
>1.
>The Tax Increment Financing District stretches from the gas station next to
>the MacDonalds to Les Schwab to Tidymans.  The tax from any increase in
>property value after December 1996 inside that district goes to pay for the
>development of Alturas.  So, for instance, all the property tax from the
>new "Wingers" building and the new KFC building goes directly to the
>development, it does not go to the City, or County, or Highway District, or
>Cemetery District, or whatever.  The School District gets some cut of the
>new taxes, but the formula for that was not clear to Gary Reidner, and thus
>not to me.
>
>The 1996 value is the "base" value of the property inside the Tax Increment
>Financing District.  The property tax on that "base" value still gets
>distributed in the normal way that the taxes on your house do, that is, to
>the City, County, etc.  It is the increase in value that goes the 
>development.
>
>That is the basic shell game of the Tax Increment Financing District
>scheme.  The rulers can then say, "No entity loses any taxes."  The taxes
>from that "base" value are preserved, and the private development is funded
>with the "tax increment."
>
>2.
>There is virtually no public oversight of the types of businesses that can
>locate in Alturas.  The only public control is through the zoning
>regulations of the neighborhood.  That zoning is Research and Technology
>Park (?), which allows pretty much any kind of business.
>
>There are, however, restrictive covenants which were placed on the property
>when the whole scheme was set up.  Apparently, the restrictive covenants
>also allow for pretty much anything, too.  The people that set it up wanted
>to allow for "support" for the "high tech" businesses that they wanted to
>attract.  Some examples of allowed uses were cited: accountants, engineers,
>attorneys, apartments, day care, restaurants.  So, Johnny Walker was safely
>within the envelope with his law firm.  In fact, it came out that he is
>planning to build a duplicate of his building on speculation, and lease
>that out.
>
>The unsold lots that were improved with the Tax Increment Financing scheme
>still belong to Gene Thompson.  That land is his private property.  He can
>sell to whomever he chooses.  The buyer can then build any building that
>meets Moscow Building Code, then almost any business can move in.
>
>I would think that a public relations firm would fit right in, Bill.  There
>are still a couple of lots available.  You could build for your company,
>and for speculation.
>
>I hope this adds something to the newspaper reports.
>

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