Georgetown has been abusing tax-increment financing (TIRZ) for years, diverting tax dollars from roads, public safety, health & human services, and other essential programs in order to subsidize economic development. The main beneficiaries of TIRZ are a few developers and contractors. City taxpayers are often forced to back fill the lost revenue for essential services by raising taxes and fees.
This is the very definition of crony capitalism, picking winners and losers instead of letting markets decide the appropriate use of undeveloped land. Iva Wolf McLachlan, president of Wolf Lakes LP, which is developing the project has been selected as the winner by the City Council.
The Georgetown City Council gave its initial approval Tuesday to give an estimated $91 million of the property taxes it will earn over a 30-year period on a 164-acre planned development with an Italian village theme to pay for infrastructure costs including five parking garages, utilities and streets. Statesman
The vote on a final approval for the creation of a tax increment reinvestment zone for Wolf Lakes Village will be Dec. 11. Under such a financing tool, the city would continue to collect the same amount of tax revenue from that area that it gets today. But as the area grows in value, 70 percent of any additional tax revenue over the next 30 years would go toward improvements in that district. The amount the city would give would be capped at $100 million.
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