YOUR TAX DOLLARS [NOT] AT WORK—STERLING’S ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE ENGAGES MATTERS IRRELEVANT AND COMPLETELY UNRELATED TO ITS MISSION AND PURPOSE.

This is the Town of Sterling Economic Development Committee’s ‘Mission Statement’ set forth on the Town’s website:

“Mission

The purpose of the committee will be to promote industrial, commercial, and agricultural business development within Sterling; to provide advice to the Select Board on economic development policy; to meet and work with current Sterling businesses and prospective businesses; to coordinate its activities with the activities of the Industrial Development Commission and the Agricultural Commission; and to work cooperatively with businesses and state agencies to retain current businesses and attract new businesses to Sterling.”

Going back to 2017 or so you will see that the Economic Development Committee has failed and neglected to post about half of its official Meeting Minutes on the Town’s website, contrary to the clear intent of Chapter 121 of the Massachusetts Session Acts of 2016, “An Act To Improve Public Records”–https://malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2016/Chapter121, and Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 66, Section 19(b)– https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleX/Chapter66/Section19 , so we really don’t know just how far off-base in derogation of its ‘Mission Statement’ the Economic Development Committee has been, but we can get a pretty clear picture of its misguided efforts from some of the Meeting Minutes it has posted on the Town’s website.

Peruse, for example, the Economic Development Committee’s 27 September 2021 Meeting Minutes– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/minutes/2021_09_27_edc_minutes.pdf –reciting the fact that that Committee discussed the following topics absolutely unrelated to its ‘Mission’ and purpose:  Town Beach Drainage, Plants Growing On The Route 12 Median Maintained By MassDOT, Interstate Route 190 Bridge Graffiti/Vandalism, and Art In The Park.

As you can see, such irrelevancies were pondered by the Economic Development Committee repeatedly in subsequent meetings– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/node/2226/minutes-agendas — and Committee member Richard Maki proposed a Fiscal Year 2023 $16,000 budget, consisting of YOUR tax dollars, to continue discussing such irrelevancies– https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/minutes/2022_01_24_edc_minutes.pdf

OH YEAH, THE MASSACHUSETTS PROPERTY SURTAX SCAM KNOWN AS THE “COMMUNITY PRESERVATION ACT”: 

Committee member Dick Maki, disregarding the fact that the truly intelligent Sterling voters present at each previous Sterling Annual Town Meeting during which the property surtax (up to 3% on top of your regular property tax bill) SCAM known as the “Community Preservation Act” has been on the Warrant have managed to shoot it down, came up with this gem during the 27 June 2022 Economic Development Committee meeting—

“Town Center Renovation. Dick Maki would like to look at the Community Preservation Act (CPA). This is the legislation that provides funding to communities for open space protection, historic preservation, affordable housing and outdoor recreation. He also suggested looking at Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for improvements of building facades. Town Administrator Bill Caldwell will present information, including pros and cons, on these programs at next month’s meeting.”

SEE  https://www.sterling-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif1266/f/minutes/2022_06_27_edc_minutes.pdf  

As you can see, the “Community Preservation Act” PROPERTY SURTAX SCAM HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. MOREOVER, ONLY DUMBASS BUSINESS OWNERS WOULD MOVE INTO A TOWN HAVING SUCH AN ADDITIONAL PROPERTY TAX BURDEN, BUSINESSES OWNING PROPERTY IN TOWN BEING SURTAXED DIRECTLY AND BUSINESSES RENTING IN TOWN HAVING THE SURTAX PASSED THROUGH TO THEM IN THEIR REQUIRED RENT.

YEAH, MR. MAKI, THAT’S A FRIGGIN’ BRILLIANT ‘ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT’ PROPOSAL!

AND, DRUMROLL PLEASE, MR. MAKI’S PROPOSED “TAX INCREMENT FINANCING” KICKBACK PROPOSAL FOR “TOWN CENTER RENOVATION” BUILDING FAÇADE ‘IMPROVEMENTS’:

Private actors engaged in bribery or kickback schemes face criminal prosecution, but municipalities can engage in them under the guise of “Tax Increment Financing”—

SEE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_increment_financing

This region’s most notorious “Tax Increment Financing” scam is the one that City of Worcester sleight-of-hand smoke-blowers foisted upon Worcester taxpayers in order to get “Polar Park” built there—

Worcester adds $20m more in tax money to baseball stadium because it forgot how gravity works

Mr. Maki and the Economic Development Committee know that they cannot compel Sterling’s downtown business property owners to change or upgrade their building facades, so Mr. Maki proposes that they do so in exchange for “Tax Increment Financing” subsidies. The cost of any such “Tax Increment Financing” scam will be borne, indirectly, by other Sterling property taxpayers to pay for municipal operating budgets. For the rest of us Sterling property taxpayers “Tax Increment Financing” is extortion for the benefit of a favored few.

WHEN IT COMES TO PROPOSED BURDENS TO BE IMPOSED ON STERLING’S PROPERTY TAXPAYERS MR. MAKI HAS, AT LEAST, SHOWED HIS TRUE COLORS.

CONCLUSION:  If Sterling’s Economic Development Committee focused on land availability, cheaper energy availability, and parking availability, Sterling might actually incur some future economic development.

J.G.