Also, there are those that want to use the EDIT money for a $12 million parking garage and a multi million dollar city hall. I feel we should use our resources to fix the problems at hand before we bond millions of dollars that we do not have.
Fair enough.
Note that the two sentences express very different ideas. The first implies that EDIT money will be spent on one or both conjectured projects. The second sentence expresses the viewpoint that if such projects actually were on the table, other ideas would be better. However, the impact of the second sentence is dependent on the implications of the first being true.
Are there spade-ready concrete proposals for a parking garage and/or city hall? If so, shouldn't we be able to locate them?
I have a hundred dollars for the first person who can provide written proof that any such proposal, either for a parking garage or a city hall, actually exists.
I won't ask for the copies of the city council ordinance approving one or both, because we all know that hasn't happened. Barring any such evidence, we can assume that while Coffey is not lying outright, that he is using scare tactics with no basis in fact. If such evidence exists, then he's nailed it. Which is it?
8 comments:
I am in the process of creating a game. It's similar to bingo, everyone at a city council meeting gets a card and when someone mentions something on the card you mark it off.
Sample items:
parking garage
BSB patio/sidewalks
tabernacle
malfeasance
feel free to add items that you feel come up for no reason
at any given meeting. Just remember I on the copyrights and all marketing and licensing rights.
I appreciate your bringing this single paragraph to a place of discourse instead of demagoguery.
I'm not trying to claim the $100. But Coffey's tactic was such a statement of his true feelings, it needed to be addressed without organizing a letters campaign of refutation.
"Fix the problems at hand" is an enormously greater set of issues than how much private sewer bills are.
Coffey addresses a specific and speculative future thing that MIGHT help leverage $150 million in private investment that would presumably yield as much as $4.5 million in annual property tax receipts (sans abatements) and a hundred or so jobs and more economic activity (sales taxes) to support schools. I'll step out on that sturdy limb and say I would support $500K a year to help make that happen.
Only a 1st-district council member would oppose it. But we don't have to raise false issues, straw men. That is in the future and would be subject to due diligence by many, including the devoted supporters of this blog.
"Umm, I have $50 here and will pay you $50 every year. Will you use your preferential borrowing power to come up with $5 now (costing you 60 cents a year for 10 years) so I can get rich while paying you $50 a year?"
Dan Coffey's answer: "He's going to get rich on the backs of the taxpayers."
But he has no problem giving away $875,000 every year to keep sewer rates lower for Pillsbury, Qdoba, Meijer, and the folks in Gobbler's Knob. Last time I looked, those people don't pay the EDIT tax.
Matt, can I have the print job?
Hey, Roger. I'm for a new city hall. A new city hall is cheaper. Dan Coffey knows it. He's for it. He has already gone on record as supporting it. It's on tape. A tape that he "promised" to make available on his inestimable blog.
We invested our money in New Albany. What has Dan Coffey invested?
Dan is a shrewd politician but he isn't smart enough to understand how small investments by government can leverage big investments by the private sector. He just doesn't get it, and he never will.
Hey, friend. Any clue why so many of those whose brains haven't yet folded are so loyal to Danny? They are loyal readers of NAC, but they continue to remain anonymous. Golly. I hope they can develop the ol' cortex and evolve into a post-biblical context.
Regarding possible alternatives to rate increases, Coffey wrote the following on his blog:
Use TIF monies where appropriate. Examples:
(1) Lift stations that are in or service a TIF district.
(2) Sewer lines, (new or repair) that are in or service a TIF district.
While I cannot say this is an entirely inappropriate use of TIF, there is a cost to the rest of us. Let me illustrate a recent example.
For those of you who don’t know, the council has appointed me to the Economic Development Commission. Last week I had the pleasure of attending my first meeting as a member. It was a quick meeting with one “no brainer” agenda item.
As I hope we all agree, Purdue’s presence in New Albany is a big plus. The long-term potential for spin off technology companies is very real. Purdue’s New Albany site already has a modest (and growing) business incubator with several start up businesses as tenants. It’s getting a new tenant, WindStream Technologies, which makes wind turbine for residential and small business use.
Purdue approached the Economic Development Commission with a request. They asked for $50,000 in TIF to help finance build-out for WindStream. While there are risks with any venture, WindStream aims to grow and grow fast. Advancing the sum now helps the startup preserve working capital which can be deployed to other areas such as marketing, research and/or new employee training. If in five years WindStream employs at least 160 people in Floyd Co., the $50,000 shall be forgiven. Otherwise, they must repay the money. I cannot think of too many better uses of TIF funds than helping a business grow and create high paying local jobs. The Commission’s vote was unanimous.
Had all the TIF funds been used for (for example) sewer improvements, they would have been unavailable to help Purdue’s and WindStream’s job creation effort. Had TIF funds been used for sewer improvements, our sewer bills would have been lower, but our future prospects for high paying jobs in New Albany would be lower too, as would our prospects for the additional tax revenue that WindStream will generate.
Matt,
I've seen a game like that. In that version, when someone gets bingo they are supposed to stand up and shout "bullshit". That seems appropriate for city council meetings.
Ann
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