The good folks from the "Boiling Point" program were at City Hall on December 9. Listen to the interviews they conducted with a few of our organizers (11 minutes).
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Opinion: City's TIF expansion is a bait and switch for voters
Julie Sellers, Opinion contributor - Dec. 15, 2019 https://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/2019/12/13/opinion-citys-tif-expansion-bait-and-switch-voters/4396426002 Just last month more than 70% of Cincinnati voters – including thousands of tax paying property owners – showed their confidence in Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) by voting to extend a real estate tax levy that will keep our city’s public schools open and thriving. At the same time, voters also renewed levies for Family Services and Developmental Disabilities. Our county parks, libraries and service providers to seniors, children, and needy hospital patients all rely on voter approved tax levies. When citizens vote to tax themselves to support our schools and other public services, they have the right to expect that the money generated actually will be used for the purpose described on the ballot. But what city voters did not know on this recent election day was that Cincinnati bureaucrats and politicians were hatching a scheme to divert real estate taxes away from their intended purpose, and into slush funds controlled by City Hall, primarily to subsidize developers. How? Through the creation of 15 new TIF (tax increment financing) districts being rushed for approval by City Council. Here’s how the TIF scam works: when a developer builds a new project, the value of the developed property goes up. Without a TIF (or the tax abatements that often go hand in hand with TIF) the increased value would result in higher real estate tax collections to support schools and other public services. Those increased collections ease the burden on the rest of us paying our real estate taxes at undiscounted (i.e. not abated) rates. But when tax increment financing is used, the taxes that should have gone to our schools or other public purposes are sent instead to an account controlled by City Hall. Sometimes the money is used to subsidize the developer (who likely donated to various city campaign accounts) by paying costs typically part of the price of the development. Or maybe the tax funds are diverted to help build another new pro sports stadium. Where it does not go is for the purpose’s taxpayers were told when they voted to impose or renew levies. It’s a classic bait and switch, with voters taking the bait. TIFs are not new. There are already more than 40 TIF projects or districts in the city covering more than $3 BILLION in property values. While some TIF properties generate a "payment in lieu of taxes" (PILOT) to CPS, the net loss to the district in just one year now totals more than $5 million. Other public service programs funded by real estate levies get no PILOT payments, and now lose more than $16 million annually as a result of TIFs. But that could be just the tip of the TIF iceberg. The proposed expansion of TIFs to cover 15 new districts will exponentially expand the value of property that will not be subject to the taxes that voters have approved and which most of us must pay. This latest TIF scam comes on top of the explosion of tax abatements that so many owners of new commercial buildings, million-dollar (or more) condos or McMansions use to dodge the taxes that the owners of older homes in neighborhoods like Price Hill, College Hill or Kennedy Heights still must pay. Even after considering the PILOT payments that come to CPS from some abated properties, CPS would collect more than $27 million in real estate taxes of abatements were eliminated. Owners of pricey new abated single-family homes get outrageous tax discounts that push the tax burden onto the owners of older homes. For example, the owner of a new $1.2 million Mount Adams town house with river views now pays about the same real estate tax as the owner of a $146,000 home in Evanston. The expansion of the TIF program proposed by the city will shift even more of the burden of paying for public services to those of us without these jaw-dropping TIF tax shelters and abatements. If you believe the proceeds of tax levies you supported should actually go to the purpose described on the ballot, contact your City Council members and let them know. It’s time to end the TIF scam and rein in a tax abatement program that is so unfair to Cincinnati’s voters and taxpayers. Julie Sellers is president of the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers. Thanks to our brothers and sisters of the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council for passing a Resolution regarding Cincinnati’s New TIF Districts Proposal:
"The CLC’s is encouraging the Cincinnati City Council to delay the vote of any new TIF Districts until: (1) A full study/report is prepared, detailing the financial impact that the Cincinnati TIF districts are having upon the Cincinnati Public School District and its’ students; (2) Public hearings are held by City Council, including a citizens’ question-answer/comments period with full disclosure and an opportunity for citizens and students to be heard from regarding the tax abatement and TIF district issues; and (3) A new tax abatement/TIF agreement is agreed to/executed by the City of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Public Schools, which fairly compensates the CPS and its students for the past, present and future loss of property tax revenue due to tax abatements/TIF districts/projects approved by the City." Please sign the petition tinyurl.com/Freeze-The-TIFs! |
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