DDA is about to reach into YOUR pocket, west side

BY RICHARD JOHNSON

Urban Dictionary defines insanity as: “doing the exact same f------g thing over and over again, expecting shit to change.” 

In this case, Cheyenne’s Downtown Development District is again exploring the rehashed idea of tax increment financing, also known as TIF. This old chestnut was

Just like Veruca Salt, Cheyenne's DDA wants your money.

a popular money maker when Cheyenne Light, Fuel & Power was in the DDA district, which encompasses most of downtown. But it turns out the utility was the critical Jenga block that brought the whole idea and the TIF threshold to its proverbial knees after they moved to the west side at 24th Street near Missile Drive. 

According to the Internet source, Wikipedia, tax increment financing is a “public financing method used as a subsidy for redevelopment, infrastructure and other community-improvement projects.” 

Let’s make an analogy between Cheyenne’s downtown district with one of my favorite movies, “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” 

Remember the goose that laid golden eggs? That was Cheyenne Light, Fuel & Power. We all know that the characters represent the seven deadly sins. Veruca Salt represents greed. I hope this isn’t a spoiler, but Veruca loses her shit when she can’t have the goose. She sings, “I don’t care how. I want it now.” This should seem familiar.

In case you missed it, the recent political city budget’s hot potato topic was that Mayor Marian Orr dropped the DDA’s funding from $390,000 to $100,000. This sparked both the allies and enemies of the DDA to go back and forth until the new/old idea of TIF came forth. 

Spoiler alert: The DDA wants it now. But how?

Well, all they need is some smoke and mirrors. 

Step 1, draft a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, filled with a whole bunch of incomprehensible numbers. Then add terminology like “mils.” Finally top it off with an unattended public work session to discuss expanding the current TIF zone to encroach all the way out to Missile Drive. And like all good government, the meeting will be open to the public, but no public comment will be taken. 

Now for the collateral damage. All those residents in the soon-to-be annexed quadrant won’t have a clue what the hell this tax is when it appears on one of their random monthly invoices. Most will pay it without even looking. They are too worried about feeding a kid or a habit -- take your pick. That’s the new American Nightmare. 

Some will try to challenge the change after it already has happened. 

The truth is that the “other business" section of a City Council meeting is as welcoming and useful as the bog of eternal stench in the movie “Labyrinth.” So it isn’t an easy sell. The civic-minded residents might ask their state House rep or state senator to contact City Hall. But the discussion probably won’t go far. 

The whole charade is as appealing as bile after a night of hard drinking.

Looking into my Magic 8-Ball, this is the rehashed DDA plan I see for the TIF debate:

“Get Black Hills Energy back under our district at all costs.”

If I ask the Magic 8-Ball what the last 10 years of TIF collections has done for urban development, infrastructure, community enhancement or downtown Cheyenne, it doesn’t even have an answer.

I’m sure the district will get its wish and get its golden goose back. Residents will have a new tax, and Cheyenne will continue to move at an abysmal pace. 

So just like when Veruca goes down the shoot, this idea, too, looks like a bad egg.

Richard Johnson is the former City Council for Ward 3, on Cheyenne’s east side.