All I have to say is wow. I knew that The MCDA was a city council club of
former city employees, but this is crazy. And I can guess that this all
started with the LSGI debacle. Over twenty years of DFL rule, and some of
the council members called this a conservative budget. Scary. Very scary.
I did some digging last year about TIF. And the one thing that sticks with
me was a professor that said that in the long run, TIF is bad because if the
real estate venture fails, who pays?? The taxpayers. If a business fails,
either the owners lose the money or the shareholders lose their investment.
The city has been gambling with our money, and we deserve better. I think
that the city is going to be begging at the trough of the state when more
working people leave euphoria, and what of minneapolis then??
Stephen Jester
McKinley
-----Original Message-----
From: Victoria Heller [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Monday, August 12, 2002 6:45 PM
To: Mpls Forum
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: City budget:another year of raising taxes and cutting service
Stephen Jester wonders:
This has been three years running that we raise taxes and cut the city
budget, so all I really want to know is where in the heck is all our tax
money going to.
Vicky Heller replies:
We will have to audit the MCDA and all of the real estate developers who
obtained financing through the MCDA to find out where all of the money went
(note past tense.) We taxpayers are now saddled with over $1 billion in
DEBTS, plus the ongoing costs of running the City government. In the year
2000, we paid $97,997,000.00 for debt service alone.
I know where some of the money went: The developer of Symphony Place and
Seven Corners Apartments bought a yacht and moved to Naples Florida (he paid
himself $17,000 per unit in "developers fees" for arranging the financing
for Symphony Place. We're still paying the debts he left us with. Then
there's our newest bad debt Brookfield Properties, along with many, many
more in between.
What did we get in return for this oppressive financial burden? Lots of
riverfront housing for rich people. An ice skating rink. Neiman-Marcus and
Saks 5th Avenue. A Hard Rock Cafe. The Radisson Hotel got $20 million, but
it was already built, so we didn't get anything new for that money (I still
don't understand why we would do such a thing.)
Was it worth it? Only the voters can decide. But how can they decide if no
one tells them what's really going on? Based on my own experience, getting
the truth in this City requires a Herculean effort and a Court Order. Not
many voters have enough time or money to get the information they need to
make informed decisions.
If anyone is inclined to apply logic to the situation, consider these facts:
Minneapolis has 19% of the taxable real estate in Minnesota, but only 11% of
the population.
120,000 fewer people live in Minneapolis than did 50 years ago.
Your property taxes will double over the next 8 years (possibly sooner.)
Not good for affordability or property values.
The answer to Stephen's question is really pretty simple. Who got the
money? The politically connected people got the money. That's what happens
in a one party town. The rest of us eventually pack up and leave (think
Detroit.)
There is good news though - over 97% of our great country is undeveloped
land - with lots of investment and settlement potential.
Vicky Heller
Working in Cedar-Riverside (for the short term)
Living in North Oaks (where the taxes are low and the water is free)
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