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Show PAGE 8 THE ZEPHYRNOVEMBER 89 Redevelopment by Ken Davey Project was an obscure plan, unknown to or Ignored by virtually everybody in Moab except members of the City Council. By the middle of October, the plan had created so ed much heat that a City Council voted unanimously to drop the whole little with as as discussion thing possible. - Tom Stocks. "Knowing what Sakrison. Dave Sakrison, David Blerschled, City Council While there are many legalistic steps and provisions to redevelopment, the essential thrust Is simple, and that Is using the powers of government to redirect tax money to encourage economic development What the Moab City Council was trying to do was bring Jobs, buildings, and more tax revenue Into town. as large urban areas, with the Redevelopment was born In the exodus of residents out of the cities and Into the suburbs, saw business and residential areas drying up, with businesses closing, homes and buildings being boarded up, rot setting in. So city politicians looked for a way to revitalize dying neighborhoods, to lure back businesses and individuals who would otherwise set up shops and homes somewhere else. These cities established redevelopment agencies (RDAs), and established redevelopment zones. The politicians would go to companies planning to build facilities and say, look, can build ten miles south of here and pay $50,000 a year in property taxes, or you you can build right here and pay $50,000 in property taxes. Either way, you are going to pay. But if you build down there, all your tax money will be disbursed throughout the entire town. If you build here, we will guarantee that the taxes you pay based on the value of what you build will be spent right here, In this zone. For the same amount of tax money, youll get more parks, better sidewalks, more city services, more value for your money. mid-19- 60s "Redevelopment Is a useful tooL "Redevelopment sag be a wonderful tool Attorney. Elaine Coates, Grand County About a year ago, Moab City officials attended a conference sponsored by Utah Power & Light, where the Idea of using an RDA for smaller towns was discussed. While the number of views of what kind of development Moab needs equals the number of residents, everybody agrees we need something. The City Council voted to form an RDA, with the membership of the RDA being made up of the Citys elected officials, a requirement of redevelopment law to insure that the policies of the RDA always reflect what the city officials want, and presumably, what the people who voted for them wanL The City Council then voted a $20,000 loan to the RDA, and the tool was in place. know now, I might have picked another area. Dave Without money, the RDA cannot make Improvements and cannot lure builders to the area. But without development to begin with, the RDA doesnt have the cash to start the process. So the City Council looked around for an area where some development was already occurring, to generate RDA money to encourage more development And right there on Main Street, across from the High School, they saw the new City Market The property tax on the empty land at the new City Market site Is around $2,000, and the City estimates that the property tax due from the completed City Market will be around $34,000. Under the Incremental tax setup, this would have meant the RDA would get about $32,000 to start Its work. "Redevelopment could lead to either raising taxes or cutting services. - Feme Mullen, County Commissioner. "The plan is a detriment to the people In the county. County Commissioner. Just dont know that the (taxing) entities can afford Gough, County Assessor. "I Tom Stocks, Moab Mayor. Terry Warner, City Council. I -- With the exception of the original loan from the City, the plan of the Moab RDA Is to raise all its operating expenses from Incremental taxes, which is the difference In property taxes between an undeveloped piece of land and the final owner of a vacant parcel of land product If, within the redevelopment zone, the motel and owes $10,000 tax, the a builds then pays $1,000 per year property taxes, difference between the two, or $9,000, Is the Incremental tax. Of this new total, $1,000 would continue to be distributed among the taxing entities (the county, the while the remaining $9,000 City, the library, the school district, the hospital, etc.) would go to the RDA, which they would use to provide services within the zone promised to the builder to entice him to set up shop. And in major cities, redevelopment projects have worked, bringing vitality to dead or dying neighborhoods. Small towns watched the process, and thought, If It can bring back economic health up there, why can't we use It to begin economic health down here? If the cities can attract office buildings and stores and condos, why cant we? A redevelopment plan becomes a development plan, to redirect taxes to a specific area and thereby attract economic activity. "Redevelopment js a tool to attract Jobs." RDA public "People keep asking, why did we pick that part of South Main Street City Council "It's a very complicated procedure. 926 hearing. shell-shock- "It's an extremely complex and complicated process." Moab resident at "Why did you pick that area?" In the middle of September, the Main Street Redevelopment -- Merv Lawton, IL' Dorothy ' While the RDA was looking at the new City Market sit as a revenue source, so were the other entitles In the county. City Markets decision to build was not based on there being a redevelopment zone; they made their decision long ago. While the Incremental tax setup doesnt take current tax monies away from the school district, for example, it does, mean that roughly $20,000 that would In the future go to the schools (the school district receives about two thirds of all property taxes) would go instead to the RDA, and for a dirt poor, educational system, a financially strapped hospital, a poverty stricken library, the needs of the . RDA do not necessarily come first "How would you like it If someone came to you and said you were Moab resident whose property was deemed covered with blight? RDA at 926 blighted hearing. "Blight is a legal term. All of Moab has blight. you go to my house, v I to we can find Tom Stocks. yours, go blight" |