Bob Herr addressing the City of Shelton CommissionRezone Will Not Repair City Budget Financial Potholes
Submitted to Shelton Blog by Bob Herr Mason County Progressive
I oppose the Shelton Hills rezone.
Contrary to widely held beliefs, the taxes paid by residential households do not cover the costs of government services provided to those households. With commercial development, the opposite is true. Businesses pay more to the local government than they take out. Like it or not, all of us, as residents of the city or county, are low life blood sucking parasites that cost our local government entities more than we pay in.
Clear evidence of that principle is that, despite the past decade of unprecedented residential growth in Shelton and Mason County, our city and county governments are in worse financial situations than they have been in for a very long time. Contrary to popular political spin, heavy reliance on residential growth is a financial loser for government entities.
The history of business in this country is littered with the carcasses of sound businesses that grew themselves out of profitability and existence, all because their owners did not understand the unavoidable influence of the economic principle of the Law of Diminishing Returns.
Similarly, there are countless towns and cities which have relied primarily on residential development for economic growth, and consequently built themselves into financial trouble, and are now caught in and endless downward spiral of ever increasing taxes and diminished levels of services. The resulting financial burden for new schools, police, road maintenance, fire, social services, government administration, and on and on falls directly on all taxpayers, not just those in the new development.
In the meantime, the developer has taken his profits and left the scene, leaving all of us to pick up the tab for servicing his project forever. The return that taxpaying citizens realize is minimal compared to the impact on their checkbooks.
The potential of construction related jobs is tempting. But with residential development those jobs are temporary, and what are left behind are homes that are a financial drain on our local government. Commercial development also provides temporary construction jobs, but in their wake follow permanent jobs associated with the new businesses, businesses which pay in more than they take out.
The key to a sound local economy and quality of life is a well thought out mix of low impact commercial and tasteful residential development. Neither the city nor the county is presently in any financial position to assume the large long term liability of a residential development of this size. This rezone will not lead to the repair of the financial potholes in the budget of the City of Shelton, but will only exacerbate them as more and more people drive over the same old budgetary holes.
Photo by Christine
I agree that it takes more than residential development to build the tax base of a community. However, it is my understanding that the 160 acres in question are just a small portion of a much larger mixed-use development.
ReplyDeleteA good portion of Mason County workers commute from other areas. Prison workers, casino workers, teachers...many of them reside in Thurston or Kitsap counties. Even the Chair if the EDC lives in Lewis County! With increased affordable housing and mixed retail development, more of these people can earn a living here and keep their dollars in the community.
ReplyDeleteIt may well be that industrial and commercial use produces more income, but who believes that having more "revenues" will ease our problem when you have politicians spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a dead end black hole like the EDC? There has never been a politician that didn't see a dollar they didn't want to spend, more if they can borrow. I will say I think our county auditor is an exception!
The problem with the industrial/commercial argument is we don't have a good record of picking sustainable industries. When one looks back we can remember many machine shops both large and small. We had Certified Aerospace, All Star, Barnes Machine, RaMac, we had Versapanel and a number of now defunct mills and wood products companies. The problem is we have never had economic leadership that thinks too far beyond timber, lumber or the obvious and familiar. We need leadership in the EDC, port and county with vision and the skill to diversify our economy. Even as big as it is, Seattlites used to joke about the last person to leave turning out the lights when Boeing had a downturn. That's what took out Certified, All Star, Etc. These are all really monetary crises. How do they do it now? They diversified to tech companies, software, internet and other industries. We need diversity.
In the story above this one, Erik wonders why the pilots backed Dobson and the Port. Part of it is to protect their private playground. But that logic doesn't answer the noise question.
The noise question is only addressed when you realize that the Port wanted to open the other runway and bring in jet aircraft. After their little "Jetcar" debacle and the flurry of complaints from a couple of test that slicked back the hair of residents downtown and had neighborhood pets running for cover, they knew a rezone was the only way. So they did exactly what they did to try to site Adage, they tried to sneak through a rezone. The problem is, the citizens and Hall were prepared for them.
Until the citizens can change the current political power-base in Mason County, it is imperative that the citizens be Very aware of all proposed uses of publicly-owned lands and property. This, of course, includes the Port's Industrial Park, the land currently still used for the Fair Grounds/4H activities, and so forth. We must keep in mind that our county and port commissioners do not have the best interests of the community at heart.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Bob, you’re (almost) all wet on this one, and here’s why: New residential development is key to any economic recovery because it brings, not only new construction jobs in the short term but all manner of sustainable, trickledown, benefits in the long term. Moreover, it brings new thinking, new entrepreneurial spirit and new blood to a community in dire need of an infusion.
ReplyDeleteA well thought through subdivision developed by a responsible builder who does not try to squeeze the last dollar from every square foot of land is a far cry from the parasitic, freeloader you describe in your post.So one should not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
When it comes to residential developments that are done well, your assertions are fundamentally wrong; when it comes to those done poorly, yep, it’s a freakin’ disaster.
Your emphasis and energy, therefore, should be directed at making sure Hall Equities builds a project we can all be proud of.