SOME FLIP-FLOPPING IN LONGMONT
     In national politics it’s called flip-flopping. I don’t know how else to describe Longmont mayor pro-tem Karen Benker’s change of attitude toward the tax issues that surrounded the proposed LifeBridge Church annexation, and now her eagerness to divert city tax revenues into renovating a shopping mall—of all things. On one hand, she used to worry that the church-area’s proposed retail businesses might escape from paying their fair share of taxes into the city treasury (an unfounded fear), but now she apparently has no problem with supporting the Tax Increment Financing gimmick that would allow the mall owner to tap into the city’s tax revenue stream to help pay for renovating his property. Are we Longmont taxpayers to believe that this TIF money which won’t be flowing into the city treasury will never be missed?
     The questions seem endless and the investment of public money brings them into sharper focus. Under TIF, will the mall feature a new anchor store and if so, who will it be? Why did perfectly good stores such as Penney’s and Woodley’s leave Twin Peaks? They moved into other commercial areas (created without TIF subsidies, by the way) and are still generating tax revenues for our city.   How fair is it to these stores and all the other non-TIF businesses around town, to see a TIF-subsidized shopping mall bringing in competing stores?
     Leave the TIF subsidy out of the equation. Encourage the mall owner to bring in whatever mix of boutiques, major and minor outlets, cinema rooms, food stations and whatever else that is appropriate and he can afford, on his own terms.
     That’s the fair way.
P.