Re: Alturas and the Future of Urban Renewal Business Forum

[Dave Potter <3d@turbonet.com>]

John,

I can't help but to try to answer a few of these questions now, without
asking people to wait until an April 5 meeting.  These are not "official
answers" from the EDC or the city, but from someone (me) who has been
involved in Alturas from the beginning.  I'm only answering the ones I'm
sure I have right.

>Does a business, or a lawyer, pay less property taxes by moving into the
>park from the city?

No.  The businesses pay the same amount of property taxes that they would
if they had built the same building somewhere else in the city, on lots of
comparable value.  In fact, if you consider that these are very expensive,
new buildings (and none of the construction of the buildings was
subsidized), they are paying substantially more taxes now. 

>Given that property taxes paid by businesses in the zone are diverted to pay
>off the park, how much more does the city resident living outside the zone
>pay to cover the diverted taxes?

None.  These are incremental taxes.  No taxes were lost.  Also keep in mind
that the owners of the properties that these businesses moved from are
still paying the same taxes on those properties they paid before.

>Why, exactly, has the city been unable to interest new businesses in the
>park?

?? It's growth is actually on track, and there is at least one local,
high-tech business currently negotiating to buy and build on one of the
lots.  The "problem" with the growth rate had more to do with (1) an
over-ambitious repayment schedule (7 years, instead of what turns out to be
a more typical 15 years for a similar project), and (2) that the first (and
partial) year of "taxes" paid by the new businesses, were, due to technical
reasons no one really knew about until too late, not officially classified
as taxes at all, so could not be part of the tax-increment financing of the
infrastructure (street, sewer, etc.).

I hope this helps.  If anyone from the city or the EDC wants to add to, or
correct, anything I've written here, I'd be grateful.

Dave

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