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Downtown board backs off tax plan

Section: Politics

Bruce Eggler

The board of the Downtown Development District bowed to political reality Tuesday and agreed to reduce its 2008 property tax millage to the level approved Friday by the City Council.

Board members made clear, however, that they weren't happy about the way the council forced them to back down on their plan to use a small extra millage to repair and rebuild sidewalks in the Central Business and Warehouse districts.

"The next time you stumble over a sidewalk pothole, think: We tried," said Byron Harrell, chairman of the agency's board of commissioners.

Council members said repeatedly in recent months that they wanted all city agencies to "roll back" their millages to the point where the agencies would collect no more property tax revenue next year than they did this year, even though a citywide reassessment resulted in a sharp increase in the total value of assessed properties.

Despite the council's urging, the DDD board decided to seek a slight increase in its 2008 millage, above the figure that would bring in the same amount of revenue it got this year.

The board said it would use the extra revenue, about $225,000 a year, plus $100,000 already in its annual budget, to support an about $4 million bond issue to pay for sidewalk repairs.

DDD officials justified the request on the grounds that the millage increase would be very slight, that it would apply only in a small part of the city, that it would be used for capital improvements and not operations, that the agency still would be collecting only about 70 percent of the millage it is authorized by law to levy, and that its constituents wanted improved sidewalks and were willing to pay for them.

Indeed, when the DDD board met in October to vote on its 2008 budget and tax plans, not a single taxpayer showed up to criticize the millage request.

But the council voted 7-0 on Friday to reject the agency's request to set its 2008 millage at 15.33 mills, instead reducing the figure to 14.76 mills, the level that state officials said would keep the agency's income the same as this year.

The council also rejected Mayor Ray Nagin's proposal that the city retain 2 mills of the 12 mills it will give up next year because of rolling back its millage to a revenue-neutral level.

Council members said they wanted to give hard-pressed taxpayers a break next year as they struggle with many other higher costs in a still-rebuilding city. But President Arnie Fielkow said the council will consider increasing the city's tax millage in future years if extra revenue is needed to balance the budget.

Whether a property owner will pay more or less tax in 2008 depends on how the change, if any, in his property's assessment compares with the 37 percent increase in total assessments. Because most assessments in the DDD rose less than the citywide average, most taxpayers there will actually pay less in 2008 than they did this year.

Before the council voted Friday, DDD officials said they thought the council had no legal right to change the millage rate the board had requested. They said the council could vote only to accept or reject the requested figure, sending the request back to the board if it was rejected.

But DDD President Kurt Weigle said Tuesday that the agency has decided not to raise the legal issue, instead simply accepting the council's decision.

Commissioner Barbara Motley said she wished that council members such as Stacy Head, whose district includes most of the DDD's territory, had made clear from the start that they would reject the agency's request even if nearly all DDD constituents supported the higher tax level.

In the end, only a handful of constituents opposed the higher tax, which was supported by most owners of major CBD properties such as hotels and office buildings, as well as by many owners of smaller properties, Motley and other board members said.

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