Asheville City Council will have a work session Tuesday to discuss “synthetic TIFs.” It’s part of council’s ongoing attempts to incentivize what board members have often referred to as, “what we want.” TIFs themselves are considered by some to be unconstitutional because they redistribute public resources to the advantage of favored private interests. A synthetic TIF, therefore, would be the kind that the City of Asheville recently approved wherein the developer agreed a priori to be responsible for all legal fees the city might incur for challenges to the bargain’s constitutionality. Participation in the program is considered voluntary, but if fee rebates are part of the incentives, some poor involuntary sucker somewhere is going to be making up the difference in the city’s budget. The “what we want” stuff, if you haven’t guessed, includes things like long-term rent control, affordable housing, provision of parks dedicated to the city, green features and certifications, you get the drift.
by Leslee Kulba
Wild West blogger