By: Trapper on 3/30/08
Wow! The Bible Park people need to pack up and go home. Wilbur the pig has weighed in on this issue. Fluffy the cat and Spot the dog has come out in support of the Park, but this pales in comparison to the superior intellect of Wilbur. I am certain Wilbur understands the budget crisis our county is in, and he sees the need for a school system that is in desperate need for money and more buildings, but he has done the research and has a better way to make money that it is not there. Fluffy the cat, who never made it to a cover of a book, feels that an entire county is more important than a district within the county. Her opinion must be wrong, because a spider did not write a message for her. She ate the spider.

Hopefully, my friend Flicka will be a Bible Park supporter soon.

By: diddlede on 3/30/08
Could be that Wilbur and the animals that are referred to just might have more sense about this project than some human beings involved.

Figures on paper still don't add up and are only figures pulled out of the hat and are the base figures given by the developer. County moving too fast on this project. No real thought going into giving away Tax Increment Financing, for up to 30 years max, to this particular project when the County has a one time chance to use TIF(1 use to each municipality) Giving away the whole basket of eggs on one particular project (:o(. Tourism Districts and Tax Increment Financing is a first for the County and they have not had time to really study the Tourism District that is being placed in the residential neighborhood of Blackman or Tax Increment Financing. "TIF crash courses don't get the job done". County rushing on all of this. Too many cons that need to be addressed before rushing head first into this fire.

The carrot has been dangled in front of the County of Rutherford. Does Rutherford County really want to be the donkey that eats that carrot and regrets it?

By: basiccommoncents on 3/30/08
you've been hanging around wilbur too much. Who says county only has one chance to use the tax increment financing? Nashville has used it over and over again. So can any county or city. The thing is: how many times do you WANT to use it? Get your facts straight, please. Lots of real thought has and will go into this, don't you worry your pretty little head. Our elected officials can analyze this and see the incredible benefit. Or they can raise your property taxes sooner and higher.

By: peri_winkle on 3/31/08
bcc: the sales tax TIF is a one-time thing. both speakers at last week's TIF meeting (county budget committee) pointed out that it was sunsetted last June 26 (2007). it's on the table in R'ford County only b/c Bar-Tur sent a letter of intent to the state before that date. that's right, the law allowed developer to apply. it did not have to be, and wasn't, any form of government official. interesting little piece of legislation.

the county can, however, set up as many property tax TIFs as it can stand. they could, in fact, put the entire county into a series of TIFs, and all of the increase in property tax revenue could be earmarked to develop the property in those TIF zones so that none of it would go to fund schools.

interestingly, the TIF before the IDB this week is the property tax version, not the sales tax version that protects growth in revenue for schools. if approved, development in the area will not benefit schools even if it creates more of a burden on them.