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Last fall, we all heard a super-majority of the City Council campaign for and actively promoted the passage of Proposition Q. Their reasoning was that without the additional $109 million tax increases under Prop Q the city was facing dire budget cuts and elimination of all but vital services.
Prop Q failed by a margin of 64-45. Our city is still functioning and just as the owners of the Dogs Head development show, businesses and people still want to move to Austin.
Fast forward to present day and now the same super-majority of the Council wants you to believe that unless they create a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) for the Dogs Head development the city will miss a generational opportunity, and we will face dire budget cuts and elimination of all but vital services.
The curious aspect, however, is that the proposed TIRZ will cost taxpayers almost as much as Prop Q would have raised. You read that correctly. The City Council wants to give as much of your taxes to a corporate donor as they wanted to increase your taxes under Prop Q.
Under the terms of the agreement, the City will pay Endeavor, the Dogs Head owner, 75% of the increase in property taxes generated by the new development. Using Endeavor’s estimates, the project could be valued more than $25 Billion dollars.
At the current tax rate, the property taxes generated by the Dogs Head would generate more than $145 million per year. Endeavor’s rebate would be almost $107 million. And, who believes the same City Council will hold the rates level in the future? I expect this Council to raise the property tax rates for District 1 residents and so, those tax values and payments to Endeavor will increase.
Endeavor’s rake would be a similar amount of money as Prop Q would have increased your taxes. District 1 voters need to ask how can $109 million be so critical to the future of Austin when it comes to raising our taxes, yet $107 million be just as important when it comes as a corporate welfare giveaway?
Those two positions are hard to justify for anyone who is not a member of the Austin City Council. District 1 residents – and all residents – are struggling to pay for everyday essentials.
If, like me, you think that is a bad deal, unfortunately it gets worse. Your City Council wants to wrap Endeavor’s property tax gift with a 25% sales tax rebate bow which adds millions of dollars to the corporate grift each year. That makes a bad deal worse for Austin taxpayers and District 1 residents.
The Dogs Head TIRZ does not make economic sense for District 1 taxpayers. It only creates corporate largesse for Endeavor.
If the Council rejects the TIRZ, the city will continue to function and just as the owners of the Dogs Head development show, businesses and people still want to move to Austin.
When the city council meets Thursday, tell them not to raise your taxes so they
Steven Brown is a lifelong East Austin resident running for Austin City Council’s District 1 seat.
