Pulled from the Arch City Chronicle:

There's an important vote tomorrow morning in the Senate Ways & Means Committee on the future of the MO Historic Tax Credit program.



Sen. Chuck Gross (R-St. Charles) has tried for several sessions to destroy the credit for budgetary reasons. He has reduced the scope of his bill to barring the credit's use on residential projects and barring its 3-year carryback feature (that makes the HTC so appealing to businesses for purchase and drives its market). Either of these changes would be disastrous for the program and for the City of St. Louis.



This could be a disaster. The legislators may think they are making an adjustment or a small change to the program for budget reasons, but it will cripple the program. A comparable "adjustment" was made by the Iowa legislature in 2004. Their "small change" to their tax credit law brought a halt to historic rehab statewide and created a waiting list for tax credits to 2018!

Some people are just blind. If this goes through you can kiss a good portion of this renaissance goodbye. What Gross doesnt seem to get is that the work wouldnt have taken place without the credtis. There wouldnt be any work to tax anyway. There are other ways to grow an economy besides taxng the rehab of hsitoric buildings. Foolish.



In Kansas governments are seeing the benefits of preservation through the State and Federal Credits. We also have a huge Grant Program becasue the State realized that putting money into older business and homes is a SMART thing to do. If this goes through then the only ones who will end up fixing up their property are the extremely wealthy that dont even care about the extra money that can be saved via the credit program.



I just pray that this gets squashed today.

Citylover wrote:I don't see this happening there are way to many interests supportive of the historic tax credit Gross has tried to this several times and he has failed. In the mean time I am going to send an email to chuckie and let him know what I think of him and his St. Charles County neo con buddies.

As that would do nothing more than encourage him, I would either write nothing or say that you're worried that getting rid of the credit would halt any expansion of beautiful Main Street/Frenchtown, or stop the rehabs in other parts of "our beautiful, historic county." No reason to point out you're not one of his constituents.



Although, in all honesty, I doubt the leg is going to put any brakes on the tax credit this year. Too many of the developers who are using it are big GOP donors -- Chris Goodson, particularly -- and the budget isn't in as much need of tightening as it was in 2003, when the credit survived Gross' attempt to kill it.

True



So when will find out their decision since that post on the Arch city Chronicle was made yesterday and the decision should been made this morning.

I think these suburban legislater's want to cap the tax credit because they know that none of the development in their areas will last long enough to ever qualify for the credits. Jealousy plain and simple. Interesting explanation at least.

I don't condone suburb bashing, but things like this make it easy to resent St. Charles.



I cannot stand people or politicians that won't support things that don't line their personal pockets. And they cut off their nose to spite their face. We all know that a vibrant St. Louis City will make St. Charles all the more desirable and prosperous. Thank goodness it didn't go through. (Or I hope it didn't)

Expat,



Great point. The thing about St. Louis is that the area has been divided for so long, people fail to see the benefit of really working together. Creating a city and urban core that is attractive, and residential friendly will create a wealth in the city, and allow us to make real consistent efforts to lure business, which brings jobs. All of those jobs that are created will bring people to St. Louis, and not all of them are going to want to live in the city. Many will prefer a home in the suburbs. It just has a domino effect that actually can benefit St. Charles in the near future.

trent wrote:..... All of those jobs that are created will bring people to St. Louis, and not all of them are going to want to live in the city. Many will prefer a home in the suburbs. It just has a domino effect that actually can benefit St. Charles in the near future.

If St. Charles had that kind of foresight, they wouldn't build houses that don't outlast their mortgages.

Everyone on here should call his office to show how many support the HTC. Being rude, St. Charles bashing (while I agree with it) will do absolutely NOTHING to change his opinion. We should do it politely etc. There is NO other reason for the renaissance of downtown if it were not for the HTC. Sorry, some might disagree, but I'd like to see a project that's currently underway that would have happened without it. Maybe the ballpark, but that's it.. EVERYONE should take action. Just make a call to Gross' office.

RE: Substitute Bill SB 45 Caps Historic Tax Credits (Not on the web)

Dear Coalition Member & Friends,



At this very moment, the Historic Tax Credit (HTC) is threatened by the Senate's Economic Development committee substitute for SB45, which will cap the Historic Tax Credit at $150 million. Such a cap will undoubtedly substantially reduce the effectiveness of the program, which relies on freely available credits in order to function. The substitute cannot be found on the web.



GIVEN THE CURRENT FINANCIAL, HOUSING, BANKING, AND UNEMPLOYMENT CRISES, NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO DAMAGE ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE PROGRAMS IN THE STATE OF MISSOURI.



The Historic Tax Credit serves as an economic engine to the state. Each year, the benefits of the HTC far exceed direct cost, boosting Missouri’s economy. $4 MUST BE SPENT BEFORE $1 OF CREDIT IS ISSUED and the state gets more: $1.50 in state and local taxes for every $1 spent in credits plus the employment impact on local communities. (MDNR/Rutgers study, 2001)



Missouri needs jobs. This program creates construction jobs. The HTC has driven down unemployment by creating over 40,000 jobs since its inception in 1998. (Rypkema report 2008)



The Historic Tax Credit program serves as a model for the country. Missouri has become a leader in generating jobs with historic preservation as a direct result of the HTC program. It is the ultimate in GREEN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS; the Wall Street Journal declares that Missouri's HTC is the "BEST IN THE NATION".



Capping the Historic Tax Credit will damage our communities, our banks, and employment. Not only will such action potentially halt current projects, but it will stop the purchase of buildings and banks providing loans for those buildings. It could potentially hurt the banks involved in project loans and continue the already deep economic downward spiral.

TAKE ACTION!



We must ensure that our Senators & Representatives keep the cap and damaging language out of the Economic Development bill.



Here's what YOU can do:

Step 1:

Call or e-mail your local Senators and House members. Find them here: http://www.senate.mo.gov/llookup/leg_lookup.aspx.



Call Governor Nixon’s office at (573) 751-3222 to speak with John Watson, Chief of Staff.



Call Senator John Griesheimer, Chairman of the Senate Economic Development Committee, at (573) 751-3678.



Call Senator Charlie Shields, the Senate Pro tem, at (573) 751-9476.

Step 2:

· TELL THEM WE CAN'T AFFORD TO DAMAGE THE ECONOMY OF OUR STATE AND PUT MORE PEOPLE OUT OF WORK. PROTECT THE ISTORIC TAX CREDIT - A TRUE ECONOMIC ENGINE.

Please forward this to others. Ask them to sign up at our web site to stay informed.



For more information and legislative updates visit www.savehistorictaxcredit.org



Contact: ASuggs@uselaws.com

I don't understand why these tax credits are always in the crosshairs of Missouri politicians. Why don't they try TIF reform instead?

who is trying to cap this again? that guy from St. Charles? what about historic main street st. charles, or french town? don't they benefit? sure, everything west of this area is expendable garbage, but come on, their old downtown is very impressive and can certainly benefit from the HTC's.

St. Louis City must have been benefiting too much from the tax credit, likewise the state felt it was necessary to crush growth in the urban core.

What a bunch of backwards idiots, why would you cap something that has led to so much growth? If anything the credits need to be expanded.

I sent this on to a couple e-groups I'm a member of, including Lafayette Square - which has many people very interested in this sort of thing.

Is there an online list of projects having received credits? It would be nice to see just how many building/projects this program has served.

good god - you can never let down your guard. These people just wont quit. Seriously - we need to act on this - are there any well organized people out there with free time and ideas?

who is the state sen. behind this thing? Someone said he was from St. Charles. I would think it wouldn't be Tom Dempsey. He represents old town St. Chuck and his family owns businesses in the historic area. If he is the one behind it his constituents better let him know what a dumb idea this is and how stupid it would be for him to support it.