WHAT ARE THE TAXPAYERS OPTIONS?????
During the Public Hearing on the Worumbo Mill property, the taxpayers are being asked to express their opinions. I asked Councilors Mason and Lunt to send out a pamphlet providing the residents with the fact and figures for each option. As of this article, they have not done so but I understand the council is planning on sending out a fact sheet. I have been receiving numbers and so I am going to try and lay out the citizens' options out for them. All numbers in this article are the most recent that I have and cannot guarantee they will be the latest come August 20, 2013.
Option 1: Recommend the council not to purchase the Worumbo Mill.
According to the 2013 Real Estate Commitment Book these are the current numbers.
U05-014 Acres not listed Land: Building: Total: TAXES PAID
111,900 110,000 221,900 4,939.49
Purchasing Price - $100,000
Why should the taxpayers float a bond for one million dollars when the property is only worth $221,900? $221,900 is a far cry from a million dollars. Keep in mind; once the town purchases this property, the taxpayers assume all liability on this property. Can the people really afford to assume this responsibility?
Option 2: Recommend by the council purchase and demolition of the mill.
The breakdown for the purchase and demolition of the mill is below:
Total Price - $945,000
This price includes the purchase, demolition and cleanup of the property. Next, someone has to invest additional funds to develop the property. Once we do this, the town is going to come back to the people and say the town has too much invested in this not to complete the project and want to float another bond. If they tell you any different, look all the promises they have broken once they get what they want; the MTM center never closed, the old LES never closed and so many more.
Option 3: Recommend the council purchase and renovation of the mill.
The breakdown for the purchase and the renovation of the mill is above. However, the ONLY PORTION of the renovation is for the repair of the roof, exterior walls and skylights. In the Sun Journal, it is mentioned this included the electrical system.
Total Price -$2,428,000
If you notice, this only covers the outside of the building and not the inside. So once again, the town will have to float another bond to cover renovating the insides of the building because once you float the first bond you have too much invested to stop at that point. Why did the town leave off the cost to renovate the insides of the building? The reason is this is not the option the town wants the people to consider.
Now let’s look at the Master Plan Goals (tentative). If you notice the four options in the fact sheet above are the identical ones Scott Benson, former Economic Community Development Direct, said about the Knight-Celetec (Gypsum Plant). Let’s take a minute and see how the town handled that property. First, the plant went into bankruptcy without the town having a clue until it was too late to be included. As a result the town received no funds to offset the back taxes owed.
Right now the town has 9 outstanding loans totaling approximately $519,000.00. Of these nine loans, there are three that passed the payoff date and two businesses have closed. The town has not collected any of the collateral on these loans. Is this what you call good management of town funds?
And finally, look around our town at the closed businesses, empty houses and the enormous about of homes that are on the real estate market right now. If the council was really interested in improving the looks of the town, they would make Lisbon more affordable to live in. The right way to do this is to LOWER the taxes in our community, instead of raising them every year. You have to cut spending in order to lower taxes.
Why doesn’t the town have the Code Enforcement Officer enforce our ordinances on the Miller Industries to make the mill look more appealing?
I apologize for the being so lengthy but I believe it had to be said.
I recommend the residents of Lisbon NOT get involved with this scheme and stay out of the real estate market.
Larry Fillmore