by Travis Mateer
It’s amazing to me when I read local media reports about Tax Increment Financing how stupid our unelected leaders think you are. Are you that stupid, Missoula? Or can you spot the insane bullshit in a quote like this one. I’ll even add some emphasis to help you out:
The Missoula Redevelopment Agency is sending more than $5.3 million in Tax Increment Financing as a remittance to local taxing jurisdictions. The money will be split up between the city, the county, the state, the Missoula Urban Transportation District (which runs the fare-free Mountain Line bus system) and local school districts.
The funding comes from a few of the city’s Urban Renewal Districts, where the property tax revenue from new development (since the time each district was formed) is controlled by the MRA rather than going through the city’s general fund.
The mayor and the Missoula City Council, when they approved a budget for fiscal year 2025, requested a one-time transfer from the MRA to the city general fund of $877,702 for public safety, including helping the police and fire departments. Then, the city also requested a remittance from the MRA of $1,363,500 to cover a revenue shortfall.
Starving the general fund of tax revenue so that developers and banks like Stockman’s can get handouts from Ellen Buchanan and company is THE EXACT REASON why Missoula has a budget shortfall in the first place. This isn’t a fucking mystery, like a whodunit movie, it’s the REPEATED reality I’ve been writing about for years, like this article from 2018 where I said this (emphasis mine):
Another problem Missoula has with funding essential services is the proliferation of Urban Renewal Districts and the use of Tax Increment Financing. Redirecting taxable value into URDs has been effective in developing blighted parts of Missoula, but with all this growth in URDs, the general fund is being starved.
While MRA became quite comfortable throwing big chunks of money around to help needy developers, like the Lambros clan, the only way to ensure these pockets of development can get essential services, like police, is to raise property taxes to get more money into the general fund.
Later in the Missoulian article, Ellen has the audacity to talk about how NOT sustainable this “one time” remittance is. God how I fucking despise these people! (emphasis mine):
Buchanan and members of the board expressed frustration that the money can’t be used as its intended, to incentivize development or build workforce housing. But, they noted, they’re glad that Tax Increment Financing exists in Missoula as a tool to help cover city budget shortfalls and help other jurisdictions.
I think Buchanan knows where she can shove her frustration, since I’ve been exposing her never-ending tenure of gentrification peddling for years, but what about the rest of Missoula? Are you going to just let these assholes blame the STATE every fucking year because the STATE hasn’t giving these tax addicts more taxes to play with?
If you’re not disgusted by what we, as a community, have allowed Ellen Buchanan and company to do to this town, then here’s more from that propaganda piece about how HEALTHY the Urban Renewal Districts are because they’re getting ALL THAT MONEY that should be going to the general fund to pay police and first responders.
Buchanan said all the districts are healthy because there’s been significant growth in taxable values.
“Staff recognizes that the budget issues facing the taxing jurisdictions in Missoula are not unique and are a product of a property tax system that simply cannot meet the needs of Montana communities,” Buchanan told the board. “This is a statewide issue that cannot be fixed at the local level and TIF remittances are a band aid at best and one that is not sustainable. A major concern that is and will continue to be a problem is our housing shortage, both locally and across the state. We expressed this concern when we were addressing the TIF remittance last year and our concerns have been proven to be accurate.”
Would Missoula’s general fund be able to meet our community needs if TENS OF MILLIONS weren’t redirected to Ellen and Company? I don’t know, that’s not the reality here. No, the reality is our LYING local officials say things like ONE-TIME TRANSFER when it’s clear that LAST YEAR there was a “one-time transfer” of TIF remittance to cover a similar budget shortfall CREATED by the Urban Renewal Districts.
Yeah, fuck MRA, and fuck ANYONE who continues enabling this charade, a charade I’ve essentially wrecked my own life exposing because those closest to me thought I should just shut up years ago instead of taking what I know about our local cabal and EXPOSING THESE FUCKERS.
At some point, without more help from this community, the cost for me will be too high, and this blog will stop producing content. If it wasn’t for a VERY GENEROUS donation from a retired fire fighter yesterday, I wouldn’t be able to make my vehicle payment for a vehicle I’ll need to sell anyway, so THANK YOU to those who see value in what I’ve tried to do here.
The use of Tax Increment Financing is proliferating across the state of Montana after legislative idiots during the last legislative session gave our figurative crackhead (Ellen Buchanan) a nicer crack pipe to smoke crack with, called WORKFORCE HOUSING. Now struggling municipalities across Montana will try helping out those poor developers, like Cole Bergquist, who STILL DREAM of condos where once a shitty newspaper was produced (emphasis mine):
“Despite the challenges, this remains an incredible project,” Bergquist said. “I am moving forward with new partners, and WagsCap, LLC will be removed. I have retained legal counsel to ensure that this transition proceeds appropriately.”
Bergquist said he looks forward to working with the authorities and investors to resolve any issues.
“This project is a central focus in my life,” he said. “I think about it and work on it all day, and then I go home and dream about it at night. I am fully committed to finishing this project in a way that adds to Missoula’s value and complements all that the city has to offer.”
The irony here is that Cole’s blighted property has now required MULTIPLE police responses, including a large one a few weeks ago, and those responses COST MONEY, in the form of the tax money that goes to pay the salaries of our cops. That’s why it’s so goddamn funny when a “public information officer” confirms it would cost me $26 dollars to SHOW MISSOULA how many times police have responded to 500 Higgins, and why.
Missoula exists in a culture of corruption that’s become so ubiquitous, barely anyone notices unless it bites them in the face, like when your family member gets euthanized by the Sheriff’s Office. Even then, the levers of narrative control are so well developed, a state-sanctioned execution could even be set up to further a coverup, including a coroner’s inquest absolving law enforcement of any shred of accountability, and nothing will be done about.
I’m an aberration. Not many people would willingly compromise social relationships and a career trajectory in order to ask difficult questions and NOT STOP because the answers are so obviously bullshit.
All it would take is ONE PICTURE–the picture of Sean Stevenson’s bruised corpse–to PROVE that those involved in an official, investigative capacity are LIARS, and therefore complicit in covering up what REALLY happened to Sean inside the homeless shelter where I used to work on January 3rd, 2020.
If this blog stops, or pauses, that doesn’t mean my writing will, so when I say stay tuned, adjust your timeframe, because the material I have yet to publish will tell some VERY interesting stories about what I’ve had to deal with over the last few years.
To those who have continued to support me through this dark time in my life, THANK YOU. I truly couldn’t have gotten this far without those who have quietly done what they can, in the background, because they know I’m not bullshitting when I say Montana is a failed state, something wholly the responsibility of Montana Republicans now.
If you would like to show your appreciation for my work in the form of digital dollars, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is the way to do it.
Thanks for reading!