Much has been made about a sign on a thoroughfare in Marion, placed there to advise taxpayers about something going on in the town that’s not quite right.
It’s one thing to have a land-grab attempt going on. It’s quite another when the land-grab is for something as inherently greed-inducing as a TIF District, which is explained in the lead of the article.
Without further ado, here’s the next Read the Lead offering: “Property owner fights land-grab by TIF District partners; finds startling information”:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MARION—The existence of a TIF (tax increment financing) District is, simply put, to aid in developers’ creation of growth in blighted areas of a municipality.
TIFs help improve tax income over the long run as regards property taxes, because they help restore viable business and improve overall tax assessment in developed areas. This way, in the future, when the district ceases its function (there is a 23-year cap on TIF districts), the properties within it create a better tax base for a municipality.
However, TIFs do not give the TIF District rights to steamroll over property owners in areas of the district. There are remedies in place if a taxing body (which a TIF District is) wishes to acquire property; eminent domain has its own styling in a court of law, and a taxing entity can take up an ED case before a judge and ask for the system to sort it out.
This isn’t the case in a Marion TIF District, however.
Court documents and bank statements show that a Marion businessman, part of a TIF District in partnership with another Marion businessman, has done just that: steamrolled right past the legal remedies available to a taxing entity, and, presenting himself as something he is not, skipped right to foreclosure on a property he does not own, has not petitioned the court to acquire by eminent domain, and worst of all, has involved others in his scheme.
The situation is so massive that it will take several publications to lay it out. But in this issue, Disclosure will start at the beginning of the nightmare that began a year ago in August for one Faith Ann Colborn and her husband, Bob, when Doug Bradley, of Marion Heights, LLC (in partnership with Lynn Holmes) filed a Complaint for Foreclosure under a Chancery suit in Williamson County, attempting a land-grab that, according to decisions made by the court thus far, he was wrong to begin.
Bradley, though, opened himself up to scrutiny when he began the land-grab.
In investigating the case, Disclosure has discovered potential misappropriation of funds within Williamson County and the city of Marion that are breathtaking in their magnitude.
Through FOIA, documents have been obtained that show there’s a massive shell game going on in Williamson County and Marion city government.
And the next several issues will expose it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Read the rest of the story and clicking this link to get started with your online subscription, or pick up a print version at these vendors! You can get your print copy of Disclosure in Williamson County at ROC 1-Stop, Pit Road Racing and Hunter’s Cove Barber Shop in Marion, as well as ROC 1-Stop in Johnston City; in Saline County at ROC 1-Stop in Harrisburg on both Poplar and Commercial Drive locations, at The Book Emporium on Gum Street (where they do carry a few back issues) and J&J’s Drive-Through Package; as well as both Eldorado locations of ROC 1-Stop (State Street and Route 45), College Drive Liquors in Eldorado, and Raleigh Quick-Stop.