It’s budget time and of course it’s going up again. Just like last year. And the year before. Surprisingly, the Parking Fund is going down $200,000 even though the city collected $80,000 less than it had planned on (no doubt thanks to Robin Hood and his merry misfits). Some have been quick to applaud the city bureaucrats in this reduction, but wait. The TIF tax portion went up $200,000. What the hell is a TIF tax? If all you saw was “tax” and you already knew it was something bad, then you would be correct. Here is a brief explanation in my LTE to the Keene Sentinel:
Tax Increment Financing is not “free money”
Who pays for Keene’s downtown parking?
If you were to ask city management, they would tell you it’s paid for through rentals, fees and fines. If you then asked them if the taxpayers paid into the parking fund as well, they would most likely tell you “no.”
This is a flat-out mistruth. Let me explain. This year, $1 million (47 percent) of the $2.2 million proposed parking budget will come from the city’s Tax Increment Finance (TIF) tax pool. This is a huge increase from $840,000 (34 percent) last year.
The TIF tax pool is generated from Keene’s two developmental districts and the revenue collected can only be spent in those districts. It cannot be spent elsewhere. The idea is the money will be put aside and used to improve the assessed value of these properties and therefore increase the potential tax revenue over time because, according to social engineer Mayor Lane, development in these areas would never happen unless they had a little help from the taxpayers. This is a ridiculous notion.
One of the biggest problems with TIF is how the money is spent. Right now, almost half of Keene’s TIF revenue goes to the parking fund. The other half is spent mostly on principal and interest. We’re talking about $2.4 million that could be going directly to the general fund to pay for city services, which would ultimately help lower the already unsustainable tax rate.
Keene city councilor Randy Filiault is proposing a prohibition on all chalking downtown at tonight’s 6pm committee meeting at city hall. He actually says he wants to stop kids from playing hopscotch downtown, at about five minutes into his interview with WKBK’s Dan Mitchell this morning,
“What about the kids that want to play hopscotch?… If they want to play hopscotch, they’re more than welcome to in their own yards and their own neighborhoods, just not, they’re not going to chalk up city streets downtown.”
If the city council is foolish enough to pass such an ordinance, they better get ready to pay thousands more taxpayer dollars to defend their attack on the freedom of speech in court! I bet the NH ACLU and the Hopscotch Keene Preservation Society will be very interested in bringing a case.
Interestingly, he admits that he was the one who chalked the war monument and says that when police asked him to remove it, he did.
Finally, he clarifies that he’s not with Free Keene, but instead part of the Occupy movement.
The Sentinel interview was conducted from Yankee’s hospital bed, where he has been diagnosed with a broken shoulder blade, fractured collarbone, several other hairline fractures and a concussion. He has since checked himself out of the hospital, rejecting their recommendation of surgery. He can barely walk.
This week on Wednesday at 6pm a city committee will hear a proposal for a new graffiti ordinance with “teeth”, because chalking must be stopped! Looks like the War on Chalk continues to escalate as the peaceful chalkers continue to occupy the square with happy, positive artwork. Indeed, a new community group has been formed, the Hopscotch Preservation Society.
The self proclaimed Garret Ean of Manchester, new mover Andrew Vermiglio aka Shire Dude joins us in studio to talk about his journey from California, the liberty culture of NH, Porcfest, agorism in Manchester, how public we are about our beliefs, plus Rob and Joel debate what minarchists really are.
Chalk Wars • Protesting Memorial day “End the wars” • Violence is violence • Sriracha wins! • 10 genres you either love or despise • Jay joins • Show notes, audio, and archives at: BlackSheepRising.org
It’s budget time and of course it’s going up again. Just like last year. And the year before. Surprisingly, the Parking Fund is going down $200,000 even though the city collected $80,000 less than it had planned on (no doubt thanks to Robin Hood and his merry misfits). Some have been quick to applaud the city bureaucrats in this reduction, but wait. The TIF tax portion went up $200,000. What the hell is a TIF tax? If all you saw was “tax” and you already knew it was something bad, then you would be correct. Here is a brief explanation in my LTE to the Keene Sentinel:
