To an Ole Seagull’s tired old mind, it’s pretty simple. The reason the tax payers are paying over $49.3 million dollars and that the education of our children and grand children is being placed at risk is because the Branson Board of Aldermen didn’t want the big box stores like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Target, etc. to go to Hollister.
Here’s the kicker, were an Ole Seagull a Branson Board of Alderman he would have wanted the same thing. In fact, among other things he would have considered the use of Tax Increment Financing which is commonly referred to as a TIF. The difference would have been how the decision to use the TIF would have been made and its extent if the end result had been to use it.
Please hang in there for a minute, as the Ole Seagull uses a brief paragraph in an attempt to share his understanding of what a TIF, Branson style, is. This understanding could be critical to the education of our children and grandchildren.
In its simplest form, it is a mechanism whereby one taxing entity, in this case the city of Branson, takes tax money from other taxing entity’s, the Branson R4 School District, Taney County, etc. for its own perceived economic benefit. The money is then given to developers to reimburse them for certain development costs. It can do it regardless of whether or not the other taxing entities agree to such taking or the impact that such taking could have on the operation of the taxing entities from which it is taking revenues.
Unfortunately, as to the Branson Hills project, in spite of lawyers swearing to the contrary, the Ole Seagull has a tough time believing the legal fiction that vacant land is “blighted” and the concept that there can be a redevelopment project before the land had ever been developed in the first place. The concept that taxpayer money should be used to reimburse developers the approximately $184,000 per acre they paid for the allegedly blighted land is beyond his understanding.
Even if one got beyond that, there were other real and practical considerations, not the least of which was the opposition of the Branson R4 School District. Their concern is based on the impact that the diversion of 50 percent of the tax revenues from TIF projects, for up to 23 years, could have on the ability of the school district to maintain the quality of their product, the education of our children and grandchildren.
It costs over $6300 per year for each student sitting in a seat in the Branson schools. Of that amount approximately $5000 per student comes from local tax revenues, a primary source of which is real estate property taxes. The vast majority of the schools income from the real estate tax is from commercial real estate. Under the current Branson TIF for Branson Hills, 50 percent of the commercial real estate taxes will be used, for up to 23 years, to pay the TIF off. Unfortunately, the school district cannot wait for up to 23 years to pay for the education of its children.
There is a dizzying array of figures that the City and developers present to show just how much money the TIF will generate for everyone. It simply dazzles an Ole Seagull’s mind but this one thing he knows, if the person that has the responsibility for the financial planning of the Branson schools, Brian Blankenship, its business manager, says there is a problem, as he so succinctly did at the Dec. 14 meeting of the Branson TIF Commission, then there is a problem. A problem that the school district has been trying to resolve since this TIF was first proposed.
For those and other reasons, as a Taney County representative to the Branson TIF Commission, the Ole Seagull voted on Dec. 14, as he has voted in the past, against the Branson Hills TIF. But, as in the past, it was an exercise in futility because six of the ten member commission, is composed of Branson Aldermen. In spite of the school districts objections and Blankenship’s excellent presentation, they voted for the amended TIF Plan. The final vote was the six Branson Aldermen against the two Taney County and two Branson R4 School District representatives.
The bottom line is this, if the school district doesn’t have the funds it needs, because, among other things, the number of kids it has to educate, exceeds its current income, there are only two choices, cut back on the quality of the educational experience that our children receive or raise taxes. The first option is no option; that leaves only the raising of real estate taxes. That is unless, between now and when the Branson Board of Aldermen meet to formally approve the recommendation that it voted to send itself for approval, common sense prevails and an accommodation is made to meet the school districts concern.
As each of the Branson Board of Alderman voted for the TIF they expressed their commitment to the education of our areas children. If it was more than words, they will actively work with the Branson school district to resolve its concerns. What are the chances of that happening? Oh, about the same as it has been over the last two years or all of the new one percent retail sales tax that the voters recently voted in going for tourism marketing but, after all, it is Christmas and the season of hope
