Bet you did. But do you know WHY?
It’s probably to take care of raises and other nonsense going on at city hall. Nonsense like the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District, which is, from what we can ascertain, being used in ways it isn’t supposed to be.
But hey. Things like that never let stopped the Harrisburg City Council from plowing through before; why should they stop now, right?
Read what occurred at the last couple of meetings—and what it means for Harrisburg taxpayers—in the evening Read the Lead, City foxes watching the Harrisburg TIF henhouse:
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HARRISBURG— The city of Harrisburg has re-established the existence of a TIF (Tax Increment Finance) district officially, with a previous TIF District having expired last year under the watch of former mayor Eric Gregg.
And, like the previous TIF that was set up under the administration of former mayor/now-merely-an-attorney Robert Wilson, this one is not without contention and controversy.
By definition, a TIF is a public financing method used as a subsidy for redevelopment, infrastructure, and other community-improvement projects.
The “public” part of the definition refers to taxpayer dollars.
In TIF, tax dollars otherwise sent to public bodies that desperately need them (such as school districts, water districts, health departments, etc), are diverted to instead be used to complete both public and private projects designed to increase the value of real estate, which in theory, generates additional jobs and tax revenue.
The problem with many TIF districts is they are run, managed and tax dollars handed out by politicians for private business projects…while all the while, through the life of the TIF (23 years), those other taxing bodies who’d otherwise receive funds are denied them, oftentimes placing them in serious financial jeopardy, as Marion and Harrisburg school districts can attest.
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