So… as Paul Harvey would say, “This is the rest of the story.”

Last January and February, the planning commission and the majority of the city council voted to declare a 10-block area north of E. Philip and the farm ground south of E. Philip “extremely blighted.” I attended both meetings and no one explained why this was being done. I know it is so the farm land can be declared “extremely blighted” so they can give the developer tax increment financing (TIF) for 20 years.

This makes no sense to me whatsoever. I have asked and no one can or will explain this to me. It has been suggested that there may be nefarious shenanigans gong on that I’m not supposed to know.

I had heard that the county assessor was assessing the south side of North Platte this year, so I eagerly awaited my little yellow card to see what my home, which is smack in the middle of the 10-block are, was valued at now. Evidently, no one told the county assessor that we are now in the ghetto, because, instead of the valuation being lowered to what could now sell our house for, my valuation went up over $32,000 and so did others in our neighborhood. Does that sound like extremely blighted to you?

So that I could be sure the county commissioners were aware of this obvious oversight, I protested my valuation and wrote them the complete story. I guess they still don’t agree with the council, because Joe Hewgley’s answer was “no change.” The county does not accept our new ghetto status. I know they are trying to squeeze every penny the can out of us poor taxpayers because of what they are facing in the near future, but this is ludicrous.

Some interesting information on “extremely blighted” and TIF. The paper said a study hasn’t been done for 20 years and I believe the state requires one within five years for a city of this size. I hope I’m wrong about all this, but does this mean that all the TIFs in the last 15 years are null and void? Is this why Mr. Person is scurrying to find a $30,000 grant to get a study done now?

People, it can’t be both ways. Common sense says either the commissioners are right and the new valuation is correct, or the council is right and we are extremely blighted. If “extremely blighted,” I feel we should all get the same deal as the developer, and instead of paying taxes for 20 years, we should be able to improve our properties with those funds to get us out of this status.

Does everyone understand that government money is not free money? Governments don’t make money. They have to take what they receive from someone else. I sure would love to see better stewards of our money, starting with the school board, college, city council, county and up to the state and big government.

Mrs. Garrick on the school board made a good start a few weeks ago. Bravo!

–Nancy L. Munson, North Platte.

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