Finally the State Legislature recognized the fraud some city’s have committed in determining what is and isn’t Urban Blight. Signed into law last month, HB 1107 is a step in the right direction toward keeping local governments honest when using their authority in determining whether farmland is really Urban Blight.
The bill’s sponsor said it best when he sated, “We need to recognize in statute what is common sense: farmland is not urban blight.” Too bad Loveland’s previous council put political cronyism ahead of common sense and good ethics by rebating 98.8% of the property taxes for most of Centerra for the next two decades. Larimer County, the schools and others have felt the pinch.
You can link to the story here and make any comments in the blog.
Thanks
Hey, I don’t live in Loveland but was researching it for a Master’s Thesis I am working on for my advanced Political Science degree.
My Professor told our class that Loveland has more acres (not hundreds as you said in your story but thousands) under Urban Renewal Authority than all of the City of Chicago. I never heard of Loveland before but just found your website story which is really great!
I thought that was a cool subject for my masters in local government ethics and abuse of discretion by locally elected officials who feel the ends justify the means when being allowed to determine where there is blight in their city deserving of special property tax waivers.
The subject of when the state or courts step-in to correct local corruption is really the original intent of my thesis.
If anyone can direct me to a good contact in the city government who will talk to me about it please let me know since whenever I call city hall it just goes to a phone directory or voice mail. Also if you have a number for the McWhinney company will be good to because I want to hear what they have to say about it also.
Jeremy
It is apparent that everybody except our city staff, including our city attorney and manager, saw the wrong in what was conducted.
I remember a comment in the Loveland Reporter Herald made by city attorney John Duval, in a matter pertaining to McWhinney diverting his “credits” in the URA to parcels outside the original URA, in which Duval was quoted as saying something to the effect that [it has never been done before, we are breaking new ground]. What he should have said was that it has never been done before because it is illegal to do so.
The fact that the Loveland Reporter Herald is not picking up on this story probably has something to do with the fact that the timing couldn’t be worse, given the fact that we are in need of a new city manager and I believe that Duval is presently going through a review of his performance. Good going Reporter Herald, the reporting of news should not be selective, we sheeples can handle the truth. The question is can the law breakers.
When the school district and our police and fire find themselves in need of funds, perhaps they can sell parts of Centerra off to get those funds.
One of the ironic aspects of this whole farce is this, long before the property taxes that should be going to provide services to the county residents happens in 25 years, the life of the mall will be long gone and it will truly be blighted then – and eligable for a new blighted designation.
We need a new city attorney as well as a new city manager.
By the way Jeremy, contact Steve Miller at Larimer County for the facts, you will not receive them from the city or McWhinney.
I wonder why I didn’t see this story in the Reporter Herald or Coloradoan. They have professional reporters, don’t they? Or are they too cozy with the parties involved?
Anyway, it makes me mad to think that Loveland City Hall is thinking about doing more “urban” renewal projects on farmland. Haven’t they given enough away previously?
Remember some of the culprits are still on city council. One is Larry Heckel who is up for re-election soon.
If appraisers who fudged home values lost their licenses why shouldn’t a council member who fudged on their declaration of Urban Blight for a campaign contributor not also lose their jobs?
Hopefully Heckel will join Dave Clark in doing real work again and leave city government to people with values and integrity.
In the meantime the rest of us have to pay more property taxes on our homes than Chad McWhinney pays on million dollar commercial properties his company owns.
It really make me wonder if the contractor council was really that stupid or just that corrupt. Maybe we will never know but no one should forget the long-term damage done to the city by waiving so many taxes for the entire useful life of many Centerra projects.
I hope a special place in Hell is reserved for city officials who try to shut down a bakery for not paying taxes the McWhinneys don’t have too and for a newspaper Editor who doesn’t even have the integrity to report the facts about his dirty friends.
Maybe that is what they mean by “sweetheart” city. Working people of Loveland pay for the Centerra pyramids through our tax subsidies while they get rich.
That really is a “sweetheart” deal for McWhinney.
I would be greatful if you would move my comment to the prior post. I clicked on the comment button of the story but I ended up on this one. Sorry, but I still think you are a progressive operative. Greg
Interesting that Steve Miller needs to explain to one Loveland councilman what is going on in Denver after hours of staff/council meetings and meetings with state elected officials as well.
This just shows how out of touch the council can get waiting for their next information feeding from Don Williams like little birds in a nest waiting for their mother’s return from worm grubbing.
Is that how they are also handling the VNet situation, Klen lawsuit and other important issues Williams wants to sweep under the rug? Maybe they need to do some independent fact finding on their own and place items on the agenda for council direction.
Waiting for staff direction and voting unanimously on everything may make their jobs easier but its not what myself or others were hoping for when we supported the newest members in recent elections.
Carmen
I see two issues here.
The misuse of blight designation by local government, which took state lawmakers to fix, and the basic way the City of Loveland has worked (and will work in the future).
They are connected on one level, but separate on another.
There is, I think, a chance to make some positive steps now. Or not. We’ll see soon enough which way this goes.
Tony Benjamin,
Loveland
Hey guys, an interesting article I found in the Ft. Morgan Times quoted Republican Larimer County Commissioner Steve Johnson saying the Urban Renewal on ag land is a $200 million problem for Larimer County when he testified for this bill.
I pasted it below. I guess reforming the unnatural relationship between McWhinney and the city is one bipartisan effort the Loveland RH doesn’t want reported! Now is Johnson taking money from these guys? Does anyone know how I can find out who McWhinney is funding?
“”Most of those who testified on HB 1107 favored the bill.
Former state senator Steve Johnson, now chair of the Larimer County Commission, said the inclusion of agricultural land is the top issue facing the county commission.
“We’re not against urban renewal authorities,” he said, but the problem is that any municipality can create a URA. Through the financing mechanism available the land can be improved but the county only gets the base property taxes, assessed on agricultural land production values, rather than the much higher property taxes that would be assessed for improved lands. And the county is required to service those areas without the property taxes that are needed to pay for those services.
It’s a $200 million problem in Larimer County, Johnson said.”"
Props to Mr. Duval!!! He’s one hell of an attorney. If there is anyway for law to be interpreted a certain way, he’s the one to find it.
Because of my naivety, I’ve questioned him a couple times about how the City can do one thing when the State Constitution says another, out come the court rulings that, in my opinion, are quite a leap to interpret them the way he does. . .
As long as he’s around, the City is going to keep stretching the law. A couple weeks ago he used the term “multi-year fiscal obligation” during the Council study session – to me the State Constitution makes it illegal for the City to have a loan (debt) that is not backed up with a bond issue, to Mr. Duval it appears this is not an problem because the City doesn’t have loans, it has ‘multi-year fiscal obligations.’
Very interesting topic, but forgive me I need to get going, I have an appointment with my Multi-Year Fiscal Obligation Officer down at the bank. . .
Neil,
Duval isn’t the only or main problem. I mean, he’s a lawyer…he’ll do WHATEVER his bosses tell him to do. McWhinney’s lawyer (with Duval’s and Manager’s cooperation) really stretched the law. That’s what people w/o a soul do…they don’t care whether an act is right or wrong, just whether they can get away with it.
The County Commissioners actually wrote a ltter of support to the City of Loveland when the McW URA was created so they deserve a good degree of fault in this. They were hoodwinked or worse by the brothers of H8land.
Jeremy, you may also want to talk to some McWhinney castoffs.
If you have a way to contact you directly I can refer you to some.
Guyana, we are always interest in speaking with former McWhinney employees.
You can email us their contact information at guchwale@aol.com
Thanks