In his Feb. 24 editorial entitled, “Though April elections may come your way, they bring the TIFs which bloom in May,” available on line under “Editorials” at www.bransoncourier.com, the Ole Seagull suggested that who one votes for can influence the use and growth of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) within our community. In that column, without casting any disrespect on Branson Landing, which he thinks is a great addition to Branson, he asked, “What would have done the most to bring more people to Branson, $100 million spent on marketing all that Branson is and has or $100 million to develop Branson Landing?”
On the website www.1branson.com, in the Ole Seagull’s Forum, where a capsule of the column and link to it were posted, Branson Alderman Jack Purvis responded to the column by, among other things saying, “Let me see if I understand this right. We don’t want any TIFs,NIDs, or CIDs and we have an historic economic slump in Jan, and Feb., but we want investors in Branson. Let’s get these same investors to build our bridge. Seriously…ideas please.”
The Ole Seagull doesn’t know about the bridge investment aspect, but here’s a “serious idea.” How about people investing in Branson the old fashioned way, with their “own” money, the same way everyone did, prior to the “TIFamania” coming to Branson? How many TIF dollars did it take to build the Titanic or the Sight and Sound Theatre? How many TIF dollars did it take to get Wal-Mart at its original location on Highway 76 or to move to its current Branson Mall location? How many TIF dollars did Country Mart, K-Mart, Grand Country, etc. get?
Was it a TIF that built Branson or was it individual investment, and entrepreneurship? Would a TIF even have been relevant in Branson but for the millions of visitors who were already coming to Branson? Can a reasonable person believe that the Branson Landing would have gotten off the ground without the financial foundation provided by those millions of visitors?
Purvis went on to ask, “What happened to the votes of Marshall, McDowel,and Williams on the council? It takes a majority to pass anything and 3 is not a majority of 6.” The Ole Seagull would point out that the reason that Marshall, McDowell and Williams weren’t mentioned in the editorial was because they are not on the ballot for the election in April. The reason Stan Barker, Jack Purvis, Cris Bohinc, Rick Davis, and Marc Williams were mentioned is because they are on the ballot for the April election.
He then warns readers, “Don’t assume that just because Gary says it, that I WILL vote for every TIF to come along. Remember, Gary writes an OPINION column.” The Ole Seagull echoes Purvis’ words in regard to the fact that his Sunday column is an opinion column and would also point out that’s the reason it appears on a page that is labeled in huge letters “Opinion.” Further he would suggest that the editorial never said that Purvis, or anyone else for that matter, would vote for a TIF period, let alone “every TIF.” However, in an Ole Seagull’s opinion, based on his voting record up to this point, a reasonable person might get the impression that Purvis never met a TIF he didn’t like, or was that Will Rogers?
