Victoria Heller writes: � In other words, when the City "buys" something, or "lends" money to a developer, it sells municipal bonds to get the cash.� But the money has to be repaid to the bondholders with interest.� If the "project" can't or won't make the payments, the taxpayers are on the hook. � This form of corporate welfare robs the poor and rewards the rich handsomely.� The "developers" pay themselves hefty fees up front (and so does the MCDA for selling the bonds).���If the "project" works financially, the developer scores again - by owning a multi-million dollar building that didn't cost him a dime.� If the "project" doesn't work, the taxpayers wind up holding an empty bag. � This financing scheme was intended to fund "public good" projects like schools, roads, libraries, etc.� Like many other noble programs, it quickly became abused by the clever and the connected.
...Me writing: I hope Victoria lobbied against state tax reform which dramatically reduced the business property taxes paid by her and Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor. My understanding is that the reason Target Center doesn't cash flow is because Taylor's payment-in-lieu-of-property-taxes (a property tax equivalent negotiated during the bailout) fell significantly. (It should also be noted that Taylor doesn't own the building, which is why there needed to be the quasi-property-tax system negotiated.) I won't dispute the corporate welfare part and pooh-bah connections allegations. But in this case, the project did cash-flow until the state (and a bigger assembly of pooh-bahs) got involved. Here, the city was abused by the state. David Brauer King Field - Ward 10 _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
