HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-15-19 Public Comment - D. Chandler - Affordable Housing & Midtown TIF GrantFrom: Chris Mehl
To: Agenda
Subject: FW: Your Presentation and Midtown TIF Grant
Date: Friday, February 15, 2019 5:04:44 PM
Chris Mehl
Bozeman Deputy Mayor
cmehl@bozeman.net
406.581.4992
________________________________________
From: Doug Chandler [doug@alliedengineering.com]
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2019 2:03 PM
To: Chris Mehl
Subject: Your Presentation and Midtown TIF Grant
Dear Chris,
Your presentation this morning was really great. Thank you. I was particularly interested in some of the statistics
comparing us to other Montana and out of state similarly situated cities. While clearly Bozeman’s economy and
growth is stratospheric by any measure, my impression from your data is that Bozeman is also doing comparatively
OK with respect to affordability of housing in spite of high costs, due mainly to higher wages. I have been thinking
about affordable housing issues for years now, and also have been running a company with 30 employees that hires
quite a few people who have to deal with housing costs. Related conclusions I have formed are:
1. Bozeman should encourage affordable housing from a regulatory standpoint, not a subsidy approach. As a
small city, the overhead costs of an affordable housing subsidy program are too high as a percent of the total
program size. I would be interested in how much overhead our programs cost (i.e. consultants, salaries for related
staff and managers, etc.) for each dollar of benefit.
2. Regular supply and demand economics plus the boom/recede economic cycle will solve the affordable housing
issue with higher local wages and fairly regular opportunities to buy if you are in Bozeman for the long term. I
think your data confirms this.
3. I have faith in the current commission’s judgment to the point that I think I must be overlooking something
about the MidTown development subsidy, but I believe we should also be thinking longer term about developer
incentives. I think the recent $775K incentive on the mid town project and Mid town TIF money in general could be
better spent on more public infrastructure in the area (Another Rotarian this morning suggested side walks in front
of Cats Paw?). Also, the money being paid back by the TIF in 10 years is not free to the rest (i.e. non TIF district)
tax payers. Unless I am missing something about how TIF’s work, most of it in the end is paid by general funds
since the taxes from the TIF District don’t flow into the general fund as they would otherwise? Is that correct?
Thanks for what you do Chris, and thanks for the time you have given me personally discussing things like this in
the past.
Sincerely,
Doug Chandler, PhD, PE
President
Allied Engineering Services, Inc.
32 Discovery Drive, Bozeman, MT 59718 | Tel: (406) 582-0221 x209 | Cell: (406) 579-2150
Email: doug@alliedengineering.com<mailto:doug@alliedengineering.com> | Web:
www.alliedengineering.com<http://www.alliedengineering.com/>