September 16, 2023
Can you believe the Arena Hype? episode of the day...
In May of 2018, Pat McFerron, President of Cole Hardgrave Snodgrass & Associates, sent a report to the "Yes! UNP Steering Committee".
The report concerned voter opinion about the UNP development and how different informational messages impacted opinions.
Apparently telling folks that the TIF project won't create new taxes is a winning strategy for gaining support even if this leaves out the overall impact on revenues which are available for the general fund.
"When told that creating a TIF does not increase taxes on other Norman residents, 71% say they would either "definitely" (52%) or "probably" (19%) favor this package. Only 18% say they would "definitely" Oppose."
A TIF does not magically create new tax $s unless the project generates NET NEW tax revenue above and beyond the project costs and accounting for impacts on non-TIF areas.
If a TIF project largely relocates activity then it is not creating NEW tax revenue, but merely shifting where taxes are collected. When shoppers go to UNP instead of other stores in Norman, then the general fund would get shorted sales taxes which go to the TIF instead of the general fund.
Consider that the biggest activities for the proposed UNP arena already occur in Norman. 28% of the arena usage would be for OU basketball and gymnastics. Only the incremental INCREASE in spending related to relocating these activities would lead to increased tax revenues.
Please don't be fooled by being told the unicorn fairy tale that the UNP TIF won't impact tax revenues. If activity shifts to TIF which grabs tax dollars, then the general fund will have less $ for services.
Mayor Larry Heikkila let's have an "intellectually honest" discussion and make sure we analyze the overall impact on city finances. There is no free lunch!
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