Dear Editor:
The Sunday article on the St. Mary's TIF and the use of Tax Increment Financing in other projects did an excellent job of describing why cities find tax abatements so attractive. The article fell short in two areas: It incorrectly described me as a retired nurse, and it failed to indicate why I am opposed to diverting tax dollars from schools back to developers.
My local job experience in healthcare was to assess quality of care and optimal utilization of resources, two experiences that, when coupled with my vantage points as a taxpayer and public education advocate, help me formulate my public policy positions. Here are some points about TIFs I considered:
Property taxes are substantially education taxes: Approximately 70 percent of these taxes go to schools, resulting in over 48 percent of JCPS revenue.
Today's kindergarten students will be parents to future kindergarten students before the TIF expires in about 23 years. Do we know what demands our schools will need to meet in 23 years? And what is the likelihood that the public will be able to support both schools and businesses from school taxes?
TIFs are like mortgages with compound interest. Except with a TIF it is lost school income that is never recouped. Tales of future revenue are based on a best case scenario that may not happen.
JCPS voters approved a 28 percent increase in school taxes to improve our district. It was not with the intent that our most fortunate corporate citizens would be granted a waiver of increased valuation.
Increased assessed valuations of property are very important: JCPS calculates a budget line item each year for increased assessed valuation based on expected increases in assessments and new construction. This expected increase across the district is expected to bring in over $1 million of new revenue in next budget year beginning July 1. This line item offsets increased costs occurring annually.
The school district and the students of this community should keep its fair share of tax money, as determined by the citizens of the school district through their many votes establishing operating and debt levies for JCPS.
Recently the News Tribune ran an editorial calling special utility breaks for economic development "corporate welfare." Are TIFs any different?
For more information about my position, please visit www.pammurray.org Week in Review for details about my positions on this TIF and tax abatement (avoidance) in general.