Dear Editor,
I feel I must respond to Daniel Brook’s letter in January 25th Yellowstone County News. I agree that the One Big Sky project is the most significant project our community or state has ever undertaken. I feel that we must be careful when claiming the project will relieve the burden on our current taxpayers. We have a TIF District within a small portion of the OBS District and development within it will capture future taxes to make the City’s proposed payments of $125 million. However outside the TIF District the City will receive the increase in taxes of only the City’s approximate 160 Mills which will go into the City’s General Fund with which to make these proposed payments. This could be a problem as that is the only new money the City will receive and TIF District dollars can’t be spent on projects outside the district. On the state side, as proposed, they will collect the 95 state school Mills (60% of what the City gets) plus all new corporate taxes, personal income taxes, and new bed taxes. That total dollar should far exceed the City’s revenue. But both are on the hook for the same total dollars! Without careful planning the City could end up spending all the new revenue or even more! Now where is this taxpayer relief under either scenario? When these private investors spend money to buy property, demolish the structure then build new, there are no new taxes until they have built back more value than what was there. All of their investment is not going toward new future taxes! These new projects will bring in people who must receive protection. Who will pay for that? All the money these people spend does nothing to increase property taxes! These are hard and true facts that must be considered!
Tom Zurbuchen
Billings
