Hey everyone! We wanted to quickly parse some information to you regarding the recent Public Hearing Notice for the Village of Lincoln, regarding their Downtown Development Plan and Tax Increment Financing Plan, as well as some of the questions we have seen asked about the notice itself, and the plan.
First, we’ll start with the notice itself. You can view a photo of the notice below, but I will add the text here in case it’s easier to read on our website versus in the attached image.
Village of Lincoln
Public Hearing Notice
Village of Lincoln Downtown Development
Plan and Tax Increment Financing PlanOn March 4, 2024, at 6:30 PM, the Lincoln Village Council shall hold a public hearing on the adoption of the Village of Lincoln Downtown Development and Tax Increment Financing Plan. The full text of the plan is available on line at https://villageoflincoln.com , the Lincoln Branch of the Alcona County Library located at 330 E, Traverse Bay State Rd, Lincoln MI or by appointment at the Village of Lincoln Hall at 117 Fiske Street, Lincoln, MI, call 989-335-0012 for an appointment. The plan covers the area generally described as an area bounded by Traverse Bay State Road, Lake Street, Main Street, First Street, and most of the southern village limits. Maps, plats, and a description of the development plan, including the method of relocating families and individuals who may be displayed from the area, are available for public inspection at the Villages of Lincoln Offices at 117 Fiske Street, Lincoln MI 48742. All aspects of the development plan will be open for discussion at the public hearing. Written comments may be mailed to PO Box 337, Lincoln, MI 48742 prior to the hearing. The public may appear in person or by counsel.
When you go to the website listed in the notice, the first thing you see is a popup regarding the notice, as well as a secondary hearing that directly follows the one above:
In order to view the plan, you must click the link that is embedded in the popup notice on the website. (Nice and easy for people to find, am I right?) However, we are sharing it with you too. Below you will see it attached, and you will be able to download it in PDF form.
After looking through this plan, you start to see why the Village of Lincoln didn’t make this easy to find before the actual hearing. It raises many questions. Some of which are as follows:
Electric Car Charging Stations
How many people in the Village of Lincoln own an electric car? I’d be willing to bet next to none. However, these will be publicly accessible car chargers, so the residents of the Village can pay for the energy used by people passing through. According to the Table 1.1 Project and Program Time Frame, it’s estimated to cost the residents of the Village of Lincoln at least $10,000. That doesn’t include any impact these chargers may have on the electric grid within the Village itself, or any price hikes that may arise due to the increase in demand on the power grid.
Tax Abatement Policy
What is “Tax Abatement”? We’re so glad you asked! According to Investopedia.com, an Abatement is a reduction or an exemption on the level of taxation faced by an individual or company. Examples of an abatement include a tax decrease, a reduction in penalties, or a rebate.
In other words, in order to make this plan work, they need to give out abatements to those they’re trying to woo into the Village of Lincoln, while also, increasing the taxes of the Villagers themselves. And notice, they are already giving some abatements away, due to the wording in this plan that states “Explore additional Tax Abatement policies…” (Emphasis mine.) Also, just exploring additional Tax Abatement Policies will run the citizens of the Village of Lincoln $6,000, as outlined in Table 1.1 Project and Program Time Frame.
We must ask ourselves how well the current Tax Abatements are working for the Village of Lincoln if more are being proposed and looked into.
While Tax Abatements are common in this day and age, it seems rather counter productive to have these people come in, using up valuable resources, and putting the brunt of the burden on the backs of the current residents.
What is the total cost going to be for this plan?
Well, the low end estimate, according to the figures established in Table 1.1 Project and Program Time Frame, seems to be $762,050. Granted, they are hoping to spread out the costs over a 10 year time frame. But that is still roughly $76,205 each year (approximately $249.18 per resident per year, out of 305 residents according to 2020 census data) being spent on this plan. (At the value of the USD from 2022 of course.) I should also note that in Table 1.3 Anticipated Captured Revenue, it shows that for 2024, the Anticipated Capture Tax Revenue is $168,697. So, if I’m reading this information correctly, it appears that this new plan will take about 45% of the currently anticipated total tax revenue for the Village of Lincoln to implement.
Tax Increment Financing Plan (or the “Plan”.)
After reading this section over, starting on Page 14 in the document, you start to see why they’re doing this entire plan, and is quite well summed in in part “C. Explanation of the Tax Increment Procedure”, found on page 16. Basically, in order to gain more tax revenue, they must use your tax revenue to pretty the Village up, in order to then tax you more. This is your government at work, folks. And yes, this section here is my personal opinion. Thank you for noticing. 😉 Definitely be sure to read the document yourself and draw your own conclusions please.
Duration of the Program
“The 2022 Amended and Restated Development Plan and Tax Increment Financing Plan shall extend the Tax Increment Financing Plan until such time that all projects and programs identified in the Development Plan have been implemented.” So, even though they identify 10 years being the max time frame of this plan in Table 1.1 Project and Program Time Frame, the truth of the matter is spelled out here with this verbiage on page 20.
Relationship to Village of Lincoln Master Plan
On the final page of the document, is section N. Relationship to the Village of Lincoln Master Plan. And in this section, it seems to spell out that if anything in this plan conflicts with the Master Plan (linked below), that the Master Plan shall simply absorb this plan into it, to make it all fine and dandy. Is this a means of circumventing public discussion and scrutiny?
Master Plan Document
What now?
Now, I simply recommend sharing this article with your family and friends who reside within the Village of Lincoln, and attend their Public Hearing scheduled for March 4, 2024 at 6:30pm, and ask the very people themselves who are trying to implement this plan, what all this means. I am not by any means an expert in this field, and I do not wish to be treated as such. I am merely a resident of Alcona County, who happens to have friends who do live there and care deeply about what’s going on in the Village of Lincoln.
Thank you for your time in reading and sharing of this article. I hope it furthers the discussion and discourse of the Village of Lincoln, what their dreams are, and how they’re going about pursuing them and implementing them. I feel that public discourse should be encouraged on all fronts, and that the People themselves, should stay active and involved within their local communities.
After all, Local Action has National Impact.
Jess Dobbs
