Property Tax Increase
- Thread starter spierceisu
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TIF financing is an area where I'm not that familiar but our town is now going hard after TIF districts. I just haven't figured out that scam yet. I believe it allows for Cities to essentially bribe private companies and set whatever effective tax rate they want. Just making a messy situation much worse.
Strongtowns is more about incrementalism than blanket density for development. I agree with you that cities never do a great job about controlling expenses though.
No one forces people to move into a given town. The tax rates are public knowledge. Aren't you voluntarily agreeing to pay that tax that funds the City growth when you make the conscious decision to move there. No one is forcing you.
Honestly you sound like a Libertarian guy that doesn't want anything, until he then wants it. Probably best if you lived out in the County where you have less taxes and rules to follow.
Not 100% agree. If I wouldn't have moved here I probably would be divorced. So I was kinda forced here
Simplifying things a bit, for new development or expansion, it reduces the property tax to 0% (or very low percentage) for a specific period of time. Then once the TIF expires, they pay taxes on the land's improved assessment. The logic behind it, is to provide companies the money for development and upfront costs with the understanding that the city benefits in the long run with increased tax base.
In many cases (not all though, if I'm being fair), once the TIF expires many retail establishments either relocate or negotiate the assessed value back to a much lower level.
Where I really have a problem with them, is tossing them out to established companies just because they can. The initial reason cities started using them was to improve their offers for new development. If an established company needs TIF money in order to expand, the question becomes, do they really need to expand. And without any written basis to determine what constitutes need, the city council is basically allowed to offer free taxpayer money to whomever they choose.
Too many rural counties for this day and age. 87 counties in MN and 99 in Iowa. Out of curiosity I looked up Jackson County in southern Minnesota, population is only 9,900. County seats don't freakin need to be within a wagon or horse ride of every point in their jurisdiction anymore, it ain't 1885. Hell, I haven't even had a reason to ever even visit thee courthouse here in Hennepin County in 40 years of living in the county. Drivers license or car licenses/titles can be done at AAA or my city office. Of course, it will NEVER change or update because of petty turf battles and traditional "identity".
Agreed! How many millions of dollars could be saved by consolidating the Iowa counties??
Politicians running for president would appreciate not having to go to all 99
Edit: Apparently it's been offered before with little support in the rural areas
https://siouxcityjournal.com/news/l...cle_d86fa0a7-fd3c-5424-a84d-abb6f5c67d7e.html
This is on the right line of thinking, but the TIF doesn't really drop the taxes to 0%. What TIF does is it allows the City to capture all of the tax revenue (usually called TIF revenue) on a parcel (this is all taxes City, School, and County, with the exception of a few protected funds). You can see why City's like this, because they not only capture the City levy, but also the School and County.
The City then gets to decide how that TIF revenue is expended, as long as it is related to the development area that captured the TIF. Sometimes its the City giving a direct tax break to the company via a rebate back on taxes, sometimes its using the TIF revenue to pay for infrastructure needed for a project. Either way, the business pays the taxes, and then the City determines how its used.
There are certainly instances when it is beneficial and instances when it seems sketchy. I'd tend to agree that long term tax rebates using TIF probably won't be a benefit, but it really depends on the deal structured and the financial commitments created by the City. Which again, gets me back to my rant on development style.
Yup, you must be new to argent logic. He's basically an anarchist that hates government, but wants all the things that governments provide.
If Iowa metro growth continues to happen via migration from the smaller communities and counties then County consolidation almost seems like an inevitability. Will be interesting to see how that would play out.
65 of Iowa's 99 counties have a population below 20K. 25 are below 10K and many neighbor each other
https://www.iowa-demographics.com/counties_by_population
https://www.iowa-demographics.com/counties_by_population
This map is a little old but the first thing I found on a quick Google search. Not looking great for Adams County with 3,700 people and a 5.8% decline.
I always thought there were some easy combos. If you combined two counties into one location and cut staff and management would be pretty slick. Probably could lump county cops together also and trim a little staff. Each could have 3 supervisors if it made them feel better.
Easy example is Hancock and Winnebago counties. You have forest city sitting on the county line and is the largest town in both counties. Put all offices there and trim a bunch of overhead. County maintenance could work together and savings is there. I'm sure there are others out there that could work together.
Show me a City with voluntary / no taxes and I'm there. I am a Libertarian so that shouldn't be a surprise. And I certainly do live in the county now with more cows than people around. I am also looking to move my business as the larger city has degraded significantly due to years of poor management.
I've never asked for any of the "services" they provide. I just need them to let me drive around and do as I need to do.
Interesting. Just opened my tax statement (Golden Valley, Hennepin County, MN). House bumped from $396K to $450K and tax from $6K to $6.5K. Ran your linky tool and it would be $8K in DSM and the Iowa average would still be $6.6K. Yikes. Thought Minnesota would be more expensive. Housing is expensive here, especially in some neighborhoods/suburbs, but the actual tax rate is not totally out of whack.
