Hi, I’m Mike Thomas, president of Appleton Concerned Taxpayers (ACT). We’re a taxpayer watchdog group in the city of Appleton that looks at budgets for Appleton, Outagamie County, and the school district to represent you, the taxpayer.
A recent issue that we’ve been involved with is TIF District 14, which you probably know as the Thrivent property off Highway 41. The “TIF” part of TIF district stands for “tax incremental financing,” which essentially means taxpayers will have to borrow money to improve the property for the developer and the owner. The “increment” valuation will go towards paying off that debt, over 20 years or more.
We contend that the Thrivent property was going to be developed no matter what. Putting the property into a TIF district has a significant impact on taxpayers: For 20 years or more, you will be paying taxes every year without the benefit of that incremental financing. This will go directly onto your tax bill, which we don’t think is fair … and we testified on that matter. We did not win.
At ACT, we will continue to look at these TIF districts and question why we are developing with a TIF, when doing so only really benefits the developer. You, the taxpayer, are basically putting in infrastructure that developers should be doing in parks.
We will continue watching on your behalf. We hope you will check in with us on our website, subscribe for our weekly email roundups, and get involved with some of these issues that are happening in your own backyard. Thank you very much listening.
