Comments to the Appleton City Council to be delivered at the June 17 Council meeting
Thrivent has been an excellent neighbor to the Northside of Appleton. It generously provides public walking and biking trails through its property, as well as planting and maintaining the green space around its buildings.
Nevertheless, I have questions about the Wilden Portfolio Park development (at Thrivent) and the proposal that Appleton create a 14th Tax Incremental District (TID) to help incentivize this development.
Let me remind everyone that there are no pancakes so thin they don’t have two sides.
Addressing the TID issue, on one side we have the financial boon to the city of Appleton and its assessed valuation:
- two thousand plus homes,
- a hotel and shopping area,
- a $4 million public park,
- plus green space and trails.
Then there is the other side:
We are told there will be no cost to the taxpayer. This is false. The Maclver Institute’s analysis of information from the non-partisan Wisconsin Legislative Council illustrates how TIF districts always raise the mill rates of a city because of how the mill rate is calculated.
It is simple arithmetic: New construction in a TID is included in the formula that determines the tax levy, which is divided using a formula that does not include the property within the TID—resulting always in a higher mill rate.
We are told that, through its negotiations, Appleton will be able to control the type and rate of development. There are some serious questions here. According to the TID proposal, Thrivent hires the Design and Visualization Partner (Rinka) and Development Manager (Land by Label). It does not sell the land, but works through these entities. Thrivent has given up nothing as it controls the who, cost, and pace of each part of the development. Appleton gains a park (for which it pays) as well as trails and green space. But Appleton already has in place guard rails for developments—without the new TID, Thrivent and developers would still have to work within those guard rails.
Lastly, how can this project qualify for the creation of a TID? Thrivent is a Fortune 500 Company, managing $212 billion in assets. The land in question is in a prime location, certainly not blighted. Also, with respect to the “But For” provision (the claim that “but for” this TID, the development wouldn’t happen), there should be no question that the development would go forward if Thrivent just sold the land outright.
This smacks too much of the city subsidizing the efforts of Thrivent to maximize the return on the sale of its property. Were we dealing with Farmer Jones selling his 580-acre farm in the same situation, I can almost guarantee Appleton would not be creating TID #14 to do so.
I ask the council to consider both sides of this pancake. The colorful sprinkles presented by Thrivent’s request to create a TID are all obtainable without a TID. In that way, all stakeholders—including the Appleton taxpayers—would be winners.
