by Travis Mateer
I’m sure supporters of Tax Increment Financing think they are very sane and responsible people when they use public money to prime private development. To help feed this delusion, the Missoulian recently reported on HUGE redevelopment projects on the horizon and the quoter from Ellen Buchanan about Urban Renewal District II is absolutely hilarious.
Before we get to the quote, here’s the geography that URD II covers:
Now, here’s the quote from Ellen Buchanan, the director of the Missoula Redevelopment Agency, where she tries to scapegoat “special districts” as being responsible for gentrification and NOT the use of Tax Increment Financing (emphasis mine):
The oldest Urban Renewal District, called URD II, was once home to many nonprofits and social services organizations that didn’t generate property taxes to the city, schools, county and other taxing jurisdictions.
“But in more recent years we’ve had a great deal of investment. Because of the investment in TIF and in infrastructure we now are seeing the benefits of the development at, for instance, the Old Sawmill District,” Buchanan explained. “So this district has strong revenue sources that it didn’t have in its early years at all.”
The district sunsets in 2031, and the agency is looking at about eight large projects to complete before then. Those include building out sidewalks, building out water mains, completing the pedestrian/bicycle bridge over the Clark Fork River at the old railroad crossing, redeveloping the former Sleepy Inn site at the corner of West Broadway and Russell, rebuilding California Street, acquiring land for housing and lighting the Bitterroot trail.
“So we’re kind of marching down a path where we’re trying to tick off these different projects that were identified as priorities,” Buchanan said, noting that some projects like the Bitterroot trail lighting are funded and well underway.
Buchanan said it’s important for the sidewalks in that district to get built using TIF funds rather than special assessments, because the latter method would cause gentrification.
Yes, that’s right, Ellen Buchanan seems to be doing a little misdirection here by setting up a different payment scheme as being the TRUE stimulator of gentrification. Too bad Ellen is full of shit, which you can determine for yourself by watching the documentary I made on this topic, titled Engen’s Missoula.
This TIF insanity is now being duplicated by Missoula County, but through a mechanism that uses a different acronym. Here’s the most recent news on TEDD, the County equivalent to TIF (emphasis mine):
The county has purchased land in the past for other projects, including the Larchmont Golf Course and the development park near the airport. It has also created a number of Targeted Economic Development Districts that generate tax increments, which in turn could help leverage affordable housing.
“Any initiative or program the county supports, there’s different ways we can support or incentivize it,” Harmel said. “Maybe it’s just to start the conversation or bring people together, and the process goes from there. All those different things are really good. There’s going to be a lot to do. Those are the avenues to attack housing on different fronts.”
This perspective is coming from the OUTGOING housing specialist for the County, Garrick Harmel, so of course he thinks the public financing tools he’s using are REALLY GOOD, but outside the bureaucrat bubble, the use of this tool looks just a little bit different.
Later this week, at Western Montana News, I’ll be writing about an exclusive piece of geography that extends political tentacles across this valley, so stay tuned! And if you’d like to assist me in my local reporting, please consider donating to Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF). Any little bit helps.
Thanks for reading!
