Two Roanoke City Councilmembers explain why they voted against an $880,000 city grant to a local developer and propose a more objective approach to offering development incentives.
"Assistant City Manager Brian Townsend said the developer told him that even though 35 to 40 percent of his project cost would be paid for from the sale of federal and state historic tax credits, he still had a gap of $880,000 and that without a city grant of $880,000 the project would not go forward."
"City council was not handed one piece of paper documenting the need. We saw no analysis (slight or vigorous) by staff verifying anything to do with the request. Nor did anyone on council, except us, even ask to see the developer's numbers."
"We were asked to simply trust the staff. As stewards of the public's money, is that what we are supposed to do? Of course not."
"Instead, we argued that if the city was going to contemplate helping this project financially, it should be done though an incentive program for downtown. Further, such an incentive program should be available to any development that meets a prescribed set of criteria. That method takes out the total subjectivity that exists today."
FULL STORY: City needs objective criteria for incentives
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