To BID or Not to BID

The Common Council recently passed a resolution allowing for the preparation of a BID (Business Improvement District). This project has evolved out of the Main Street Manager program that was implemented several years ago. Under the stewardship of the Business Alliance of Kingston there were focus groups, meetings, and presentations given to educate the public on the benefits of having a BID. I was present for several of these meetings including the presentations given at City Hall. From the beginning I’ve had reservations because of the current tax structure of the homestead/non-homestead rates putting a tremendous burden on our commercial property owners. However, I kept an open mind and agreed to support this measure as long as there was enough room to adjust or modify this plan. The devil is in the details, and I think some things need to be brought to the forefront here before we go any further. I will try to outline this as simply as I can although this is a very complex issue.

Before I get into details, if you are reading this and are a stakeholder, please make sure you educate yourself on this BID, you have only 30 days to file your comments along with your objection or approval.

Simply put, this BID is not acceptable the way it is. Where I can support the concept, this BID is far too large in scope and does not define the duties, staffing, and cost benefits to allow this plan to go further. I also find the nature in which this entire process has been done has not encouraged participation from the stakeholders who will be paying for this BID. The way it is written, once it has been enacted it will be very difficult to dissolve and there is far too much authority to spend taxpayer money without oversight and shareholder approvals.
If you would like to review the proposal you can download it here:

http://thestorefrontgallery.com/BID_DISTRICT%20PLAN-FINAL_091611-2.pdf

Here are the comments and issues that I have, many of them were echoed at last week’s Public Hearing.
This BID includes a major part of our commercial corridor including the entire Broadway Corridor which was originally proposed. The needs of the businesses in midtown are much different than those in the Rondout and there is little information on how these services will differ. The other issue is that the map that was passed by the Council was not what was presented to us. At the 11th hour additional areas were added in order to make up the funding needed so this BID now includes parts of Abeel Street, East Strand, Saint James Street, Pine Grove Ave, Summer Street, Oneil Street, Andrew Street, Cornell Street, Prince Street, Jansen Ave, Cedar Street and others. These property owners were not part of the original plan and many are hearing about it for the first time through articles in the newspapers. When I was actively campaigning as mayor and talking with business owners along the corridor I found very few of them were aware that this was going on even after nearly 2 years of ‘reaching out’ from a marketing company who was hired to do so. What concerned me even more was the method of notice for these stakeholders for this very important Public Hearing. A notice was sent to the property owner (often an office manager) which was a copy of the Resolution (very hard to understand unless you are familiar with local laws) and a letter on why a BID is a good thing. There was no clear explanation addressing the financial impact, specific details, or even a copy of the proposal included. If one wanted more information they needed to visit City Hall to review the document. Another misleading item was the fact it would cost about “$1 a day” on average. To clarify one detail, it is the median price, not the average which is actually about $1.60 per day as per their report that outlines properties that are in the BID area. Like all statistics, it depends on how you look at them. Let’s take a property that is assessed for $200,000 where the BID will cost the property owner approximately another $550 on their property tax bill. With our local assessments so out of whack I would be very concerned, especially if you keep in mind that property values continue to fall (especially commercial properties). How will that affect the bottom line for this BID in the future, will they have to raise the rate? How much more can our commercial property owners sustain when they already pay nearly double of what a homeowner pays? Adding the fact that tax-exempt properties do not have to contribute is another issue that will increase the burden.
Looking further into the details, about 80% of the money will be going for administration (2 full time jobs that pay $40k a year) This leaves very little for the actual improvements that need to be done, especially a BID that is this large in scope. As written, the organization that will implement the BID has the authority to take loans which brings up the issue of what could happen if the BID fails, who will be left with the debt? There is no mention of term limits for Board Members, and the administrator (BAK) has the authority to charge additional fees for expenditures without approval, and there is no mention of annual meetings for shareholders. It also seems to me that BAK’s performance will not be reviewed on a regular basis as the overseer of this BID. There are many other concerns that I have which I will outline in detail and submit to the Council President.