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The Way I See It!

I am an Ultra-Conservative, Alpha-Male, True Authentic Leader, Type "C" Personality, who is very active in my community; whether it is donating time, clothes or money for Project Concern or going to Common Council meetings and voicing my opinions. As a blogger, I intend to provide a different viewpoint "The way I see it!" on various world, national and local issues with a few helpful tips & tidbits sprinkled in.

What I Think the Common Council Should Do About the TIF

By Randy Hollenbeck
March 9, 2010  

Please don't forget the meeting of the Community Development Authority of the City of Cudahy for Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 5:30 PM at the City of Cudahy Municipal Building at 5050 S. Lake Drive, Cudahy, WI 53110.

 

Please attend the Cudahy Public Hearing Tuesday on the TIF and development.

 

On a related topic of the TIF district…

 

If three of Cudahy’s Common Council members had the guts, they should force an agenda item that “NO” development can proceed on the TIF District 1 (Iceport) until the TIF audit is final and complete and “NO” funds should be transferred from TIF District 1 to other land as well!

 

What if someone was going to back the Council in the corner, before the election is over, by allowing the train spur to be put in as to tamper with Wal-Mart coming back into the Iceport after Tony Day wins the election.  Of course, that is a “What If”!

 

Knowledge is power and by depriving swathes of people of knowledge, we retain power over them.

 

Don’t forget “TIF” doesn’t stand for Taxes Is Free!!!!

 

-----------------------------------------------

 

From: Randy Hollenbeck

Sent: Monday, March 08, 2010 2:06 PM

To: Bruce Schuknecht

Cc: Jason Litkowiec; Joe Mikolajczak; Mark Otto; Mary Schissel; Thomas Pavlic; James Williamson; Ryan McCue; Lara Fritts

Subject: TIF Audit

 

Mr. Schuknecht,

 

Could you please tell me when the full audit will be done on the TIF?  I am just wondering this before the “City” begins transferring it around and spending more of it, if we have an idea of what funds are truly left.

 

Thank you for your time and effort,

 

Randy Hollenbeck

 

--------------------------------------------

 

From: Bruce Schuknecht

Sent: Monday, March 08, 2010 3:06 PM

To: Randy Hollenbeck

Subject: RE: TIF Audit

 

May or June 2010.  We are waiting for the auditors to finish our regular audit about mid April.  The piece we are missing is the Special Assessment information from 1994 – 2004 within the TIF.  The Mayor, auditors, and I meet last week and we all agreed that the Special Assessment information is an important piece of TIF # 1, with that being said the auditors are meeting with me in May and they will direct me on how to proceed in securing this information from 1994 to the present.

 

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  1. Randy Hollenbeck - Mar 09, 2010 8:33 AM

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    Question: Who pays if the TIF is already out of money and the City keeps loaning and using money from a fund that is tapped out?

    Is it...let me guess...no clues now.....its...mmmm....not sure.....wait a minute....Ok - its got to be....errrm...the taxpayers - am I right?

    Yes! So isn’t the most prudent thing to do is wait until May or June before doing any more with TIF money? The development has been waiting this long, it sure will wait longer.

    Why the rush all of a sudden?

  2. kfech - Mar 09, 2010 9:02 AM

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    I would like to know how much of the original TIF money has come back to the taxpayers since the original TIF District seems to go back to 1994, long before the Iceport project. What is the normal turn around on TIF funds? If this district began in 1994, is 16 years an acceptable time frame to get the money back? Then we still see no development, do we need to wait another 5 years to begin seeing a return on this investment?

  3. Randy Hollenbeck - Mar 09, 2010 9:08 AM

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    That will all be in the audit. We could close parts of the TIF districts if they wanted and I thought you could have it up to 25 years. I thought the Iceport/Meyer site has 12 or 11 years left.

    I know the rush to sign papers of intent is because the election is just around the corner!

  4. kfech - Mar 09, 2010 10:40 AM

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    Based on Mr Schuknecht's response, I don't know why the city wouldn't wait the 90 or so days. This would allow any new elected officials the opportunity to make a decison that is going to affect their next 3 years in office.

    Unless there is a business opportunity that needs this additional time, I would recommend that the CC wait

  5. mjvh - Mar 09, 2010 10:56 AM

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    Just to clarify, the City approved a study to be done on the viability of a train spur to be routed to the Iceport site not to actually build a train spur. The intent was to see if this was viable if a development came that would need one. Keeping the door open to what ever came down the pipe.

  6. Randy Hollenbeck - Mar 09, 2010 11:08 AM

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    The city is drafting a plan to build a railroad spur that would branch off the Union Pacific Railroad track along the eastern border of the property, said Lara Fritts, Cudahy economic development director. The spur would let companies load and unload freight on the site.

    The city completed the first phase of a study that revealed, from an engineering standpoint, the spur can be built, she said. The next step is to negotiate with Union Pacific, which owns the track, to get permission to build a spur, she said.

    As a selling point for the site, the city is willing to build the spur, Fritts said. But Cudahy will not build it until a tenant has committed to the site, she said.

    The city also has applied for a $200,000 Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources grant to prepare the property for development, McCue said. He said he expects a response from the DNR this week.

  7. JTozz - Mar 09, 2010 11:47 AM

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    Did the City have to hire outside to do this study or was it within the pay grade of the City engineer?

    Graffiti Frieght trains or Big Box retail ... hmmm which is more upscale again?

    There is no reason not to wait for the audit if the City doesnt know how much money they have to hand out, I mean gift out, I mean bribe, I mean raise property taxes ? Wait, what .......
    Check out this nice blog about what goes down in Chi-town TIF which is the same all over http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/october-surprise-mayor-daley-says-hes-not-raising-property-taxes-but-he-is-heres-how/Content?oid=1227363

    There are many reasons not to misuse TIF money, because it is a loan on increasing projections. What are the projections of increased revenue streams for Cudahy?

  8. DaveF316 - Mar 09, 2010 3:31 PM

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    Hmm... good question. Well if McCue is mayor the answer is simple, nothing, nada, zilch. Only idea dumber is this 800 billion dollar commuter train that no one will ride. I even heard that taxpayers will pay part of every riders fee regardless if they use it or not. I won't use it and do not want to pay for either train service. I got a great idea, let those that use it pay for it.

  9. Cudahy One - Mar 09, 2010 8:10 PM

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    We need a rail spur like we all need a hole in our heads. When, and if, someone is interest in the site, worry about it then. The obvious answer is yes, they could build a spur line off that line. Their were and are spur lines by the old slaughter house, ladish, and rail car property. I am not an engineer, however, we don't need to spend tax money to figure that out.

  10. South1 - Mar 09, 2010 9:40 PM

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    Before all the cho-cho train people say what about roads? Remember who raided the fully funded transportation fund, Doyle. Also the years 2009-11 the state expects to collect 3.5 billion from fuel taxes and registrations alone. That amount pretty much covers state roads. We get money from the fed for their roads as well. City streets are maintained by your municipality, and I’m guessing that you are not interested in returning to unimproved dirt roads.
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