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Resident urges council to publish project-level accounting for tax-increment financing commitments
Summary
Marty Sahorski of Community for the Triangle told the council the city's own projections show more than $98 million in developer incentives and urged the city to post project-by-project accounts of incentives, taxes generated and net benefits to taxpayers.
During the citizen comment period, Marty Sahorski of Community for the Triangle urged the council to provide more transparency about tax-increment financing (TIF) arrangements and the public costs of local development.
Sahorski said the city's own projections show "expenditures totaling over $98,000,000" in project/developer incentives and associated costs and argued residents should be able to see project-level accounting showing incentives paid, taxes generated and net benefit to the city. He said he only obtained records via an open records request and asked the city to make such materials available on its website to allow taxpayers to judge whether benefits justify public investment.
A council member responded that obligations for projects in the referenced TID are contractually limited to tax increment generated by the specific property and that the city's general fund is not exposed under the agreements; council members agreed to post related materials and a relevant article for public review.
