Greeley wakes up to McWhinney/Loveland alliance
On Tuesday’s show, Liam Weston, proprietor of Loveland Politics, revealed that the mystery Fortune 500 companythat McWhinney says will come to Northern Colorado if $12 million in public funds earmarked for I-25 and Hwy 34 improvements is diverted to a private project to lure the company and its jobs to Loveland is United Agri Products, which already has an office in Greeley.
Fortunately, the Greeley City Council was listening and sent a letter to the Loveland City Council expressing its concern over changes that would allow McWhinney to delay improving the dangerous I-25 and Hwy 34 interchange. According to Loveland Politics:
Greeley is asking how the dilapidated condition of the intersection could have been used to qualify McWhinney’s
properties for blight designation to receive subsidies but now is adequate to carry the increased traffic loads created by
McWhinney developments. In addition, the letter points to the fact that taxpayers and shoppers in Centerra were told the
extra tax money (McWhinney tax) was being collected to improve the dangerous intersection.
Loveland Politics is the ONLY news outlet that taken the time to properly report this story. I’m not going to rehash the history, but I suggest all reader educate themselves about this issue by visiting LovelandPolitics.com. Readers will find that Centerra is an example of abusive corporate welfare. It is the socialization of risk with the privatization of profit. Taxpayers foot the bill, developers get the cash.
April 21st, 2009 at 8:19 pm
[...] « Greeley wakes up to McWhinney/Loveland alliance [...]
October 8th, 2009 at 7:31 am
Loveland politics fails to mention that Ball Corporation (Liams employer) has received 70 Million in subsides and tax breaks in just the past 3 years. The Loveland Golf Course(Liams home) holds more debt than the Centera project.
I hate to get personal but the hypocrisy must be highlighted.
Liam was a Federal whistle blower and he received 300,000 thousand Federal dollars before moving to Colorado. I think he is addicted to blowing whistles so much that when there is not a real whistle to blow, he blows anyone(whistle) he can find.
Here is the McWhinney scoop, take it or leave it.
I did some research. Centera district is self supporting for the most part. The public bonds are repaid by fees collected at Centera. The Loveland general fund is not used to repay the bonds. So the customers are repaying the debt. This information can be found on the Loveland website in the CAFR.
According to the master financial agreement the district is guaranteed a 1.25% sales tax reduction. So Centera pays the city only 1.75% sales tax rather than the 3%. For this exchange Centera must charge fees that are used to upkeep and improve the area.
No other hand our or subsidy has been given. The final tax rate at Centera is actually higher than the other parts of Loveland so there is no competitive tax advantage.
This smells like privatization to me. Less centralized government.
Now for relevancy. The highway improvements are actually funded by Centera customers rather than the rest of Loveland. Considering this economic downturn, if it were left to me, I would have granted the McWhinney boys the right to forgo ALL improvements till the economy returns. Then I would hold them to the original contract. Just good timing and good common sense.
Loveland politics supports many candidates who are not fiscal conservatives, such as Steve Johnson. CUT rates Steve a dismal 23.
Loveland Politics supports local tax increases so long as they have a say in the expenditure.
Loveland Politics has eluded to illegal activity on both The city’s part and McWhinney part. The McWhinney Yacht is paid for with money that would otherwise go to the Federal government, tax deduction. The McWhinney corporation has multiple streams of revenue including substantial private debt. The infrastructure bond portion is only a small part of the overall revenue stream.
Loveland Politics appears to be be big local government, zero growth and anti wealth. Loveland Politics also appears to be attempting to make a name for themselves any way possible.
I hate to bring this here but I have had over 10 comments deleted or not posted at the LP website. So much for freedom of speech as their moto claims.
The only thing I found was that Loveland voters have approved an excess revenue expenditure that is set to expire in 2011. Vote no on the next one.
There is also a 2 million dollar excess reserve that is claimed to need a vote. I believe this money should be returned immediately.
Loveland Government also suffers from the same problems as the other larger city’s. Storm water fees and other enterprise funds abuses.
The City needs to be bitch slapped, not the private MCWhinney.
McWhinney has created substantial wealth for this entire area. There voluntary customers, willing to pay higher tax/fees are proof.
I will no longer pursue this issue. Loveland Politics is a non issue and non player with an axe to grind or better yet a whistle to blow.Hopefully Amy is better informed and understands better who she is forming alliances with.
November 27th, 2009 at 10:32 am
The person posting above stated, “No other hand out or subsidy has been given.” in describing Centerra’s fees charged to shoppers thus defending Centerra as some kind of privately funded effort.
In fact, the greatest revenue the Centerra Metro District receives is from their phony urban blight designations by Loveland and the “Urban Renewal Authority” where property taxes are returned to the Metro District. Last year the majority of their revenue ($5 million) came from property taxes that could have gone to support local services. The fees you claim is Centerra’s only revenue really only contributed $2 million of the $8 million revenue they received in 2008.
In addition, $7 million dollars in development fees were waived for all Centerra developments in advance along with MANY other favors uniquely for the McWhinney organization provided by the City of Loveland.
Today, Loveland is trying to survive on 2007 budget levels despite all the shoppers and residents Centerra brought to the city. Larimer County is also cutting essential services due to budget problems that could be cured if Centerra paid the same property tax most every other property owner in the county does. Rebating property taxes for 20 years to fix “urban blight” that never existed on farm fields along I-25 is an outrageous fraud on the taxpayers.
Perhaps the person posting above is hiding behind the name of a famous Libertarian because he or she is indeed in fear of looking foolish for making a personal attack instead of presenting a logical argument. McWhinney operatives have been trying to discredit me for years unsuccessfully.
It is likely the individual has a proprietary interest in Centerra and is not hardly a concerned citizen. Intimidating the taxpayers of Loveland who stand-up and speak out is a tactic all too familiar for people who work for McWhinney. The husband of Troy McWhinney’s business assistant tried to have me thrown off an HOA Board when he and his wife discovered I was involved with LovelandPolitics. These goons and their tactics of intimidation are not working as Loveland voters just turned-over the city council in November’s election.
My home is not located on any golf course so you have again spread false information about me. By the way, you should be aware that knowingly spreading false information in an attempt to harm someone is the definition of libel.
And yes, I did sue a company for fraudulently billing the U.S. Air Force over $5 million. The U.S. Justice Department entered the case and recovered the money for taxpayers. If that somehow makes me a bad person in your eyes maybe you should re-evaluate your own personal sense of ethics.
You should also consider that I don’t make frivolous accusations but instead do my research before commenting. Something you might consider doing in the future.