Williamson County Joins Georgetown in Crony Capitalism

We now have the cost of the crony capitalism($91M) that the City has awarded the developer of Wolf Lakes Village at the northwest corner of Hwy 29 and I35.

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. Now the County is joining in the scheme to reward specific developers. Statesman

The main beneficiaries of a 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.

Here is an excerpt from the Statesman:

Williamson County commissioners have approved giving $19 million of the property taxes the county will earn over a 20-year period to pay for roads and drainage at a 164-acre planned development in Georgetown.

“It will be bringing jobs to the center of our county and reducing commutes more,” said Commissioner Terry Cook after the approval Tuesday.

The commissioners’ agreed to create a tax increment reinvestment zone with the city of Georgetown for the development called Wolf Lakes Village.

Under such a financing tool, officials said, the county will continue to collect the same amount of tax revenue from that area that it gets today.

But as the area grows in value, 50 percent of any additional county tax revenue over the next 20 years will go toward improvements in that district. The amount the county will give will be capped at $30 million.

The politicians always talk about the benefits, like jobs, but they never talk about the downsides, like picking winners and losers. Just imagine what $91M + $30M could be used for in other critical areas, such as emergency services and law enforcement. That $121M will  not be available to meet the most critical needs as the TIRZ locks the funds into infrastructure for the property within the TIRZ.