Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Boo! for Proposition 2
During this year's election Austinites will be voting on many propositions for the city and state and it's a good idea to know exactly what you will be voting for. Doing a little bit of research I found out that Proposition 2 is not one that we want to get approved. In this proposition it is aimed primarily at the Domain in North Austin. The Domain was built under an agreement whereby the city rebates some of the mall's sales and property taxes back to the owners if they meet development, sales and hiring targets. With this agreement brought a good amount of increased tax revenues and even spurred new development around the area. If this proposition is passed it would terminate the agreement and eliminate a successful tool to attract development in our city. I strongly recommend voting no on this proposition because too much tax money would be put into these lawsuits and it would be very damaging to the Domain and other projects using the same sort of agreement. Proposition 2 should not be passed because it would force the city to break its word with the Domain, guarantee expensive lawsuits and would get rid of a useful tool for bringing businesses and jobs to Austin. I believe the city should honor its original agreement with the properties and shut down this effort to change how it works. So when you go and cast your vote on November 4th be sure you know what your really voting on and think to yourself whether or not this proposition is worthy of your vote.
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I have to agree with ‘Big Things Happens in Texas’ editorial about not supporting Proposition 2 for city of Austin or any future Proposition that looks like Prop 2. This Proposition if passed would have changed the city charter to prohibit the City Council from granting financial incentives, including tax breaks, to any development that has a retail business. It would have also prevented the City Council from bringing other developments, businesses and jobs to Austin. No a good idea at all in this times of economic hardship.
Proposition 2 was place on the ballot to punish the city and a developer for the agreement hammered out six years ago that brought the Domain development to far North Austin. But if this proposition passed, it would have not only broken the contract that returns some of the Domain's tax dollars if the owner meets hiring and sales targets but also breach every such agreement in town. I mean why on this world someone would consider a proposition like this one! Proposition 2 instead of giving incentives to business to remain in Austin, and keep attracting new investors to Austin, would actually take the initial incentives away from them. This type Proposition could cause many people lose their jobs. Not very smart I must say. Proponents of Proposition 2 falsely simplified the issue as ending a gift of tax dollars to a mall owner. In reality, city voters were being asked to make a sweeping policy change that would have been disastrous for Austin and could have resulted in lengthy and expensive lawsuits. Good thing Proposition 2 didn’t pass. I recommend Austin voters to keep their eyes open when another Proposition like this one is proposed in future elections.
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