Nick Frank wrote:
If the office component is scaled back that is a significant reduction in
property tax revenues due to the higher rate offices pay. The only real
options would be to raise property taxes or somehow get more state aid
(unlikely at best)
David Greene:
There is another, better option. The city (and the county?) could
change their commercial-industrial property tax to land value taxation
which puts the tax solely on the land, not the building. Generally,
low-density areas are taxed higher than currently while dense areas
get a tax break. It can be implemented in the revenue-neutral way,
but it would encourage the kind of development we want to see.
Nick Frank Responds:
I absolutely agree this would be much better but the city doesn't have the
authority to change the property tax structure. It isn't something that is
likely to change in the near term.
Nick=-
Density is going to have to precede transit in this city (political
reality).
David Greene -
I don't think that's necessarily the case, especially if we get more
good Republicans like Ron Erhardt and the "Transportation 10" elected.
Again I agree there is some hope but we saw what happened to the gas-tax
increase. But even if it had been approved the lage time for the projects
to get built is quite long.
Still I think we need to ask what the city is specifically doing in terms
of land use to prepare for a move towards a better transit system. We need
to "put our money where our mouth is" on the whole concept of people being
able to take care of daily needs within a half mile of where they live, etc.
Protecting parking lots at the expense of office developement in an
neighborhood that has little office space doesn't seem to be the right
direction to me. This speaks to the efficiency of the transit system and
the level of usage assuming it gets built.
Thanks for the thoughtful response.
Sincerely,
Nick Frank
Elliot Park
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