I just ran across this gem on the official news website for the city of Cayce:
"TRUE: Future tax consequences for Cayce homeowners and residents will be huge. BUT, they will be positive.
· Annexing 3,000 acres into Cayce before it is developed will significantly expand the economic opportunity for Cayce as a part of an overall strategic plan to lower taxes to residents in Cayce. Planners will have the opportunity to devise agreements that are tax sensitive to the residents and community, and the tax revenues from the development and jobs and retail sales will benefit all Cayce residents."Source
I am interested to see this "overall strategic plan to lower taxes to residents in Cayce." I am further interested to see how developing a known flood plain that is "protected" by levees built ages ago by farmers that conform to no levee standards and have proven themselves susceptible to the rising waters of the Congaree River will function to lower taxes for Cayce residents.
True, an upscale residential/commercial district would serve to expand Cayce's tax base and increase revenues for the city, but I have yet to see any proposal to lower property taxes (or any other local taxes) based on the anticipated revenues from Vista Farms.
Meanwhile, the people of Cayce should note that the flood insurance that business and homeowners would be forced to purchase in order to finance their properties is only made affordable because of the federally subsidized rates that are neither actuarially sound nor sustainable (even Congress has admitted that the NFIP in its present state is unsustainable, see H.R. 3121). This means that the burden of flood risk brought about by developing Vista Farms is borne not by the property owners, but by the public at large, thus increasing the tax burden on the citizens of Cayce (and, for that matter, the citizens of the United States). So essentially, this "strategic plan to lower taxes to residents of Cayce simply functions to increase their federal tax burden while failing to propose any reciprocal relief at the local level.
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If you build a certified levee to protect against the base flood, the property behind the levee is out of the floodplain and exempt from NFIP insurance requirements. Please visit www.vistafarms.info for complete, accurate details.
I checked out the site but I'm not sure where the "complete, accurate details" are. I suppose you're referencing the letter from the engineer that checked out the site. Problem is that (1) his findings are still speculative and, from what I could ascertain, based on only his perception of what the development might be and not on actual plans; (2) there is no mention of who will build (or pay for) the levee; and (3) what standards will be used to "certify" the levee. I would love clarification.
Blue, are you suggesting that communities don't usually lower taxes when other areas are annexed and come into the tax base? (I know they don't I am just kidding). This will not be a tax boone to the people of Cayce in any way - I wouldn't be suprised if at some date in the future they are even allowed to set up a FILOT (fee in lieu of taxes - usually for like $5) system in order to get out of property tax all together.
If it is good idea then it is a good idea, but it should be presented on the merits and not on the promise of a some tax benefit that will NEVER materialize (EVER). The net winner in this situation will be Vista Farms, the net loser in this situation will be Cayce, and think that is the rub.
Silence: the one thing that burns (besides my pet issue of floodplain development) me the most about the Vista Farms project is the general "backdoor" nature of the whole thing. Avery Wilkerson facilitates the annexation, pushes it through in some "emergency meeting" that occurred with little debate or public participation (the minutes are available online) and then Wilkerson walks away from his job as mayor just as the whole thing comes to fruition. So who's accountable for this thing when it all blows up in the collective face of Cayce's residents?
Hey BlueSouth, maybe people higher up wanted this done and appointing Wilkeson to a cushy post as a Commissioner was not just an exist out the back for foisting this on the people of Cayce, but also a reward.
It's possible, but we can really only speculate as to the true motivations behind Wilkerson's appointment. What remains true, no matter what the motivations, is that he is no longer accountable to the citizens of Cayce for his actions.
What still bothers me though is that sometimes it seems like I'm the only person talking about this. I'm glad to facilitate a dialogue, but if something is to be done to ameliorate the situation, it will have to happen in the real world and not in the blogosphere.
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