To the editor:
Those were BIG NUMBERS that Ron West, a Johnson County commissioner, was throwing around in his letter to the editor on Feb. 11…$99 million, $31 million, $52 million, on and on. Reminds me of a 1960’s era U.S. Senator from Illinois named Everett Dirksen who famously quipped, “A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you’re talking real money.”
Mr. West’s letter was a follow up to the Feb. 6 James Vaughn front-page article with the title, "Johnson County officials weighing options for expansion of jail." There is no doubt in my mind that Johnson County taxpayers must find a way to fund the jail expansion and it appears to me that it will have to be done using the EDIT tax due to the state’s intransigence on the issue. So, let’s move on.
What I find so interesting is the mayor of Greenwood complaining about the lack of money available for public safety when Greenwood, under his leadership, has siphoned off BIG DOLLARS from public safety and public schools via the use of tax increment financing districts (TIFs)…of which Greenwood had six as of calendar year 2017 (the most recent period available on the state’s website)! If you look a little deeper at these TIFs you will find one, the Eastside Allocation TIF, that has taken on over $42 million in debt and will pay over $10 million in interest (26 percent of the debt incurred) over the next 18 or so years. Johnson County, including Greenwood’s six, has 20 of these things with a gross assessed value of over $1 BILLION! And, they are pulling in $12 MILLION in tax revenue each year.
Statewide, again as of 2017, there were 803 TIFs with gross assessed values of almost $52 BILLION pulling in almost $700 MILLION in tax revenue each year, some of which could and should be going to public safety and the education of our children…the two main responsibilities of our state and local government. While crime in our communities continues to increase and teachers across the nation resort to strikes in an attempt to regain some of their lost earnings over the past couple of decades we resort to play money (TIFs) to fund pet projects. Witness the Feb. 9-10 Daily Journal article about Franklin schools asking voters for a much needed tax increase to pay teachers more and cover students mental healthcare.
To the county council member that stated at the Feb. 4 public meeting that the taxpayers “must not be concerned,” please be assured that we are! According to recent reports in the media the majority of U.S. taxpayers live from paycheck to paycheck with little to no money saved. That my friend just might be a contributing factor to why you can’t build a jail big enough.
Larry G. Davis
Greenwood
