Herschlag: Thoughts On The Golf Course And TIF Districts

Trash collection costs will "only" double.

Sewer upgrades for the development on the Heights will "only" cost $26.6 million.

A new ladder truck will "only" ring in at $2 million.

A $10.8 million dollar clubhouse and associated improvements will "only" raise your taxes $30 if your house is valued at $300,000, as reported in Saturday’s Concord Monitor.

I’ll try and not bring tears to your eyes as I go through some numbers and I won’t go over the minutia of TIF districts. But… here is a list of property taxes the city is withholding to pay off accumulated debt in the city’s three tif districts.

Keep in mind I’m far from a math major, so these numbers may not be perfect, I’ve gone over them a number of times and they’re close based on information from the 2024 city budget.

The numbers are based on what is described as the captured values of the TIF districts assessment generated by the new development. In simpler terms, the amount of taxes that are "only" used to pay for costs associated with the tif district that do not go to the general fund to pay for city-wide, county and schools district costs, like your taxes do.

The total amount of taxes being retained by the three TIF districts is $2,2323,693.

This means $826,638 in property taxes that are designated for the Concord School District will not be transferred to the district.

For the Merrimack Valley School District they will not be receiving $363,012.

The discrepancy in funding for the school districts is because two of the TIF districts are in the CSD and the Exit 17 TIF district is in the MVSD.

The city portion of the TIF districts’ property taxes that is being retained by all three TIF districts is $861,638.

You will notice that the schools and city portions do not equal the total amount being retained. This is because I did not breakout the county and state education portion of the taxes that are also being retained by the three TIF districts.

Remember that the numbers above are for one year. Bonds for our TIF districts were initially financed for 20 years, although the TIF districts bonds have been refinanced for a longer term. And while the values of the TIF districts have changed over the years, I’ll let you do the rough math to get an idea of how much money has been diverted from our schools and city services.

There are ways to structure TIF districts and developer impact fees that would free up a significant portion of the property taxes being sequestered by the TIF districts. Yet the city refuses to consider these options, resulting in a greater portion of the property tax burden being carried by residential property owners and commercial properties outside of the TIF districts.

In the city’s budget that exceeds $130,000,000 and where $48,686,053 is raised by property taxes, $2,232,693 (4.5% of the property taxes raised) may not seem like a lot of money.

But for my house that is assessed at $262,700, and property taxes that are assessed at a little over $7600, a 4% savings on my tax bill would result in a savings of slightly more than $300.

I am paying $2,345 more now than I was in 2013. That comes out to a lot more than the "only" a $30 per year increase for the clubhouse. They conveniently left out all the other $30 increases.

But you know that old adage; a million dollars here and a million dollars there and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.

And about the golf course. I’ve yet to understand why the golf course can’t, doesn’t or won’t increase playing and rental fees for those who live outside of Concord.

I don’t understand why the golf course isn’t organizing a capital campaign fund drive.

I don’t understand why the city’s capital improvement program did not update the projected $4.5 million in costs for the construction of a new clubhouse, while over the last three to four years construction costs have increased exponentially.

And while the design of the clubhouse was abruptly and significantly changed after the NH Golf Association declined a potential lease, it is imperative to ask why is the outgoing mayor trying to ram through a vote on the bonding and construction of the clubhouse with a lame-duck city council.