The Sentinel 3/21/2012
THE TEA PARTYER
March 16, 2012
It was a good day for the people of Coos County on March 6, 2012. The Board of Commissioners unanimously passed the resolution to stop The Bandon Marsh Expansion. The document went even further and demanded that the county not be a part of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Environmental Assessment.
The Resolution does show solidarity in the community’s opposition to this giant federal land grab. However, it
does nothing to stop the process. Private property owners can and should always have the right to sell their land to anyone they want to, including the federal government. The Board has no real authority to stop the feds from owning property in Coos, but the measure allows us the ability to show an officially adopted resolution.
The commissioners did the right thing and they deserve a Thank You for their wise choice. It was a good way for Commissioner Parry and Messerle to find political redemption, especially after they voted in favor of more debt and gave concurrence to The Bandon Urban Renewal Agency, last January.
Of course, the battle wages on to expand the Bandon Urban Renewal debt.
The City of Bandon passed the Bandon Resolution at the City Council Meeting on Monday, March 5, 2012. The
resolution increases the maximum indebtedness of the Bandon Urban Renewal Agency’s taxing district area #1.
It is a debt increase from $5.4 million to $12 million extending out until the year 2033.
A $6.6 million dollar expansion into indebtedness is a considerable amount. The city will spend this money on
corporate welfare and controversial projects. A Façade grant program will be established with this funding, which takes money from the hard-working taxpayer and turns that money over to private business and wealthy developers. Then the city plans to use a good portion of the money on the unnecessary construction of an eco-tourism visitors’ center. These are just two of the many examples of appalling expenditures.
In the FYE 2010-2011 Bandon Urban Renewal area #1 & #2 siphoned more than $467,406 in property taxes from 10 other overlapping taxing districts. Six of those districts are countywide districts and provide for basic services used by everyone in the county. The Bandon School district lost $174,107. The state will have to
replace that money with income taxes. The library district lost $30,477 and the Hospital lost $37,237, which is
the equivalent of one entry-level nurse. The County lost $64,275. They could have used the money to keep dangerous criminals off our streets.
That is how Urban renewal, using the process of Tax Increment Financing, takes money right off the front-end. The city takes that money to construct designer projects, such as those sidewalks to nowhere or replacing vandalized skateboard ramps. Other sources of public funding have to pay for these types of political extravagance.
One good example is the $600,000 of Urban Renewal money the city council just gave to the Bandon Pool Committee. Now, the Bandon Pool committee has the imperative to dispose of this $600,000 with the creation of another taxing district. The pool is the purest example of one way Urban Renewal not only increases property taxes, but also is the catalyst to developing other taxing districts. In addition, it demonstrates how Urban Renewal takes it off the back-end.
These types of projects only provide temporary jobs and artificially inflate the value of property, so that taxpayers have to pay more in property taxes for the same piece of property. Bandon already has an above average price for houses and that is how Urban Renewal squeezes money out of the middle, specifically from the middle class.
Eventually, this government gentrification of Bandon neighborhoods will hasten the rise in the price of houses to the point where they will become unaffordable for the common person to own a family home.
Urban Renewal: it takes money off the front-end, it costs even more money off the backend and it slowly squeezes it out of the middle, and the politicians pass it off as if it was pennies from Heaven, free money.
It is not “Free Money,” it is our money and we the people should get to decide if Urban Renewal is worth putting our children into debt.
There is a Referendum Petition going around Bandon. If there are enough signatures to put it on the ballot, the voter will get the chance to decide the issue in an election. If you want to sign the Urban Renewal Petition and you are a registered voter in the city of Bandon, contact me, Rob Taylor at 541-347-9942 or email urpetition@msn.com. The clock is ticking and there is a very limited time to sign the petition.
To find out more information go to www.CoosCountyWatchdog.com.
“Rob Taylor was the original organizer of the TEA Parties in Coos County and is currently an independent activist working to promote the rights of the individual.”
THE TEA PARTYER
March 16, 2012
It was a good day for the people of Coos County on March 6, 2012. The Board of Commissioners unanimously passed the resolution to stop The Bandon Marsh Expansion. The document went even further and demanded that the county not be a part of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Environmental Assessment.
The Resolution does show solidarity in the community’s opposition to this giant federal land grab. However, it
does nothing to stop the process. Private property owners can and should always have the right to sell their land to anyone they want to, including the federal government. The Board has no real authority to stop the feds from owning property in Coos, but the measure allows us the ability to show an officially adopted resolution.
The commissioners did the right thing and they deserve a Thank You for their wise choice. It was a good way for Commissioner Parry and Messerle to find political redemption, especially after they voted in favor of more debt and gave concurrence to The Bandon Urban Renewal Agency, last January.
Of course, the battle wages on to expand the Bandon Urban Renewal debt.
The City of Bandon passed the Bandon Resolution at the City Council Meeting on Monday, March 5, 2012. The
resolution increases the maximum indebtedness of the Bandon Urban Renewal Agency’s taxing district area #1.
It is a debt increase from $5.4 million to $12 million extending out until the year 2033.
A $6.6 million dollar expansion into indebtedness is a considerable amount. The city will spend this money on
corporate welfare and controversial projects. A Façade grant program will be established with this funding, which takes money from the hard-working taxpayer and turns that money over to private business and wealthy developers. Then the city plans to use a good portion of the money on the unnecessary construction of an eco-tourism visitors’ center. These are just two of the many examples of appalling expenditures.
In the FYE 2010-2011 Bandon Urban Renewal area #1 & #2 siphoned more than $467,406 in property taxes from 10 other overlapping taxing districts. Six of those districts are countywide districts and provide for basic services used by everyone in the county. The Bandon School district lost $174,107. The state will have to
replace that money with income taxes. The library district lost $30,477 and the Hospital lost $37,237, which is
the equivalent of one entry-level nurse. The County lost $64,275. They could have used the money to keep dangerous criminals off our streets.
That is how Urban renewal, using the process of Tax Increment Financing, takes money right off the front-end. The city takes that money to construct designer projects, such as those sidewalks to nowhere or replacing vandalized skateboard ramps. Other sources of public funding have to pay for these types of political extravagance.
One good example is the $600,000 of Urban Renewal money the city council just gave to the Bandon Pool Committee. Now, the Bandon Pool committee has the imperative to dispose of this $600,000 with the creation of another taxing district. The pool is the purest example of one way Urban Renewal not only increases property taxes, but also is the catalyst to developing other taxing districts. In addition, it demonstrates how Urban Renewal takes it off the back-end.
These types of projects only provide temporary jobs and artificially inflate the value of property, so that taxpayers have to pay more in property taxes for the same piece of property. Bandon already has an above average price for houses and that is how Urban Renewal squeezes money out of the middle, specifically from the middle class.
Eventually, this government gentrification of Bandon neighborhoods will hasten the rise in the price of houses to the point where they will become unaffordable for the common person to own a family home.
Urban Renewal: it takes money off the front-end, it costs even more money off the backend and it slowly squeezes it out of the middle, and the politicians pass it off as if it was pennies from Heaven, free money.
It is not “Free Money,” it is our money and we the people should get to decide if Urban Renewal is worth putting our children into debt.
There is a Referendum Petition going around Bandon. If there are enough signatures to put it on the ballot, the voter will get the chance to decide the issue in an election. If you want to sign the Urban Renewal Petition and you are a registered voter in the city of Bandon, contact me, Rob Taylor at 541-347-9942 or email urpetition@msn.com. The clock is ticking and there is a very limited time to sign the petition.
To find out more information go to www.CoosCountyWatchdog.com.
“Rob Taylor was the original organizer of the TEA Parties in Coos County and is currently an independent activist working to promote the rights of the individual.”
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