As one listened to the city of Branson’s administrator, Terry Dody, during the Public Comment portion of the March 12 meeting of the city of Branson’s board of aldermen, it was hard to constrain one’s self from jumping up and saying “Alleluia, Branson’s incubator TIFs will save us all. How did Branson ever get along without them?”
What did Dody say? As relates to what he said regarding the increase in property tax assessments and tax revenues for the city of Branson and Taney County, the following will indicate Dody’s comments in italicized type, followed by the The Ole Seagulls comments in non italicized type. Dody made his comments during the time allotted to the ex city of Branson Finance Director, Deanna Schlegel.
So what happened is that all the activity that kicked in 2003 and 2004 started coming onto the books in 2006 … the school district still realized a five and half percent increase in its property tax revenues…
It makes sense that it takes a couple of years for construction to be completed, assessed, and be put on the tax rolls.
So all of that is attributable back to the growth that was created when the city council decided to move forward with a TIF in the downtown area and began to kick in the new construction in 2003 and 2004 … and so in 2006 we saw a lot of that coming into fruition a lot of the boom in 2005 and 2006 that we set all new records in hasn’t even hit the books yet…
Is it not more reasonable to attribute what happened in 2003 through 2006 to the same thing that made it possible to build the downtown TIF project in the first place, the millions of visitors coming to Branson? Aren’t those visitors directly attributable, not to government incentives and TIFs but to the investment, work, and entrepreneurship of all those who have invested their own money, sweat, and effort into creating the Branson that draws the millions of visitors that the downtown TIF is counting on to be financially successful?
So when we say that there is a benefit by the creation of those TIF Incubators, the proof is in the pudding we don’t have to guess or make estimates it’s already happened and we know it’s going to get even better in the next couple of years as those bigger projects kick in.
Yes, things are going to continue to improve, that’s not the question; the question is why are they going to improve?
There is only one change that has occurred in our local economy and that is the creation of the two incubator TIFs that are out there right now is that correct? Schlegel responds, “That have any real effect today I would agree” Thank you.
“The two incubator TIFs” are the only changes that have “any real effect today.” Give me a break! Can we all step back and spell the word “m-a-r-k-e-t-i-n-g” very slowly. There was a huge change made in the way that Branson was marketed about three years ago. Is there just the possibility that the results of that change have played at least some small roll in Branson’s improving economy?
Wasn’t there a substantial increase in the percentage of visitors etc. for the first few months of 2006 before the TIF financed Branson Landing even opened up? Of the new things being built in Branson to bring more visitors to the area how many of them have been built and are being built because of the TIF incubators and how many of them are being built because of the millions of visitors coming to Branson each year?
In the majority, it is the sweat and financial equity of Branson’s stake holders and the marketing of that effort that is the incubator for the growth that Branson has had in the past, experienced in recent years, and will continue to have. To say that Branson’s TIFs are the only changes having any real effect today on Branson’s economy shows a total lack of appreciation and understanding for what made Branson what it is and what is necessary for its future success. Not for the financial success of a few but for the whole community that is “Branson.”
