As the Salt Lake County Council remains divided on maintaining childcare and senior center offerings, many have offered support for the use of tax increases to fund public needs. What’s left unsaid is that the county has more than sufficient funds to operate these, and even additional centers for kids and seniors.
If county government had not entered an agreement this spring to give decades of property tax increment to real estate developers at the Ritchie Group for re-developing the Salt Palace, private developers could still have bid on the lucrative project, with the county retaining 100% of associated property tax growth for programs that benefit citizens rather than private corporations.
Worst of all? The associated re-investment zone will also shave tens of millions in property tax revenue from your local school district, public library and other municipal budgets for the next thirty years, all without going through Truth in Taxation.
This holiday season, I will remember watching our leaders tighten their purse strings to help real estate developers in favor of sustaining the spaces most needed by our community’s children, seniors and their families.
Ashley Anderson, Salt Lake City