Quote:
Originally Posted by jammies
The intent of changing the system wasn't to lay punitive taxes on certain businesses, it was a side effect of trying to make the system better in general - more efficient and fair. You could equally argue Escoba had the benefit of years of being undertaxed comparative to the actual worth of the property.
Sometimes change is going to be bad for some but better overall, It certainly sucks if you're on the bad side of change, and I actually do feel for this guy a bit, I just find the same old people who use the situation to complain with the same old BS anti-government crap, with no context and ridiculously overblown hyperbole vexing and sadly amusing.
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I'm not an expert on this but I think you're totally wrong. Escoba was not under taxed for years. It was taxed the same as comparable restaurants. The problem is that the price of vacant downtown land is extraordinarily high because it's best and highest use warrants that pricing. People who bought vacant downtown land did so to develop it and generate massive rents to make the investment worthwhile. They did not buy it to hold onto for 18 years while paying upwards of a million a year in taxes.
So when you have an existing land owner operating well below highest and best use, it seems unfair to make that business pay as if it were in the same boat as high rise commercial use. Unless your goal is to get rid of independent business, this is a bad idea. It seems like a great way to create a bunch of worthless vacant lots. You seem to think he's complaining about typical property tax increases. He's not. A %100 increase is punitive.
The proof is that the city itself admitted it was wrong and reverted to the lower tax rates in both cases....Escoba and Diversified.
I think the assessment process was likely botched. I'm sure there have been only a few sales in the area over the past decade. That makes it harder to determine a true fair value in the first place.
One more thing regarding parking....businesses in strip malls pay extra for parking in front of their business. They put signs up. Those spaces essentially belong to the business. They absolutely have a value to the business. Escoba didn't have assigned parking in front of it's building but those spots would still have value to that business. Even one or two tables a day makes a difference.