THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 4, 1994 TAG: 9412020218
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
How do you kill a plan?
You recommend increasing taxes 4 cents per $100 to spend on it.
If he had worked at it, City Manager Wayne Orton could not have concocted a better way to taint the proposed economic development plan before it is born.
People in this city are highly skeptical of the plan anyway. They've paid for too many consultants and they've seen too many of their plans aborted in the the early stages.
Many of us would be willing to pay an additonal $40 or $50 a year in taxes if we thought most of the plan could be accomplished over the next five or six years. But we have to be convinced. We have to see the plan set in stone. We have to know that the city is not going to fumble the ball.
That means getting started before taxpayers are asked to ante up.
I don't think the city manager set out to undermine the plan. I certainly hope not. But he did not display much awareness of public relations when he suggested a real-estate tax increase earmarked for the plan at this stage.
The proposed economic development plan has not even been adopted by City Council. The public doesn't know what will be included in the final plan. If the taxpayers think the plan is going to require huge investments of tax money, they are going to oppose it arbitrarily.
Orton should have suggested the tax increase for something more concrete.
People will pay more taxes to build schools when they are needed. They will pay for new jails. They'll pay more taxes to increase the size of the police department.
They might even pay for specific parts of a development plan - a new street or an inlet on the river - if they know how the money will be spent. But it's highly doubtful the citizens are going to sign a blank check.
The big question around town about the plan has been, ``How much will it cost?''
The planners have repeatedly said the cost in public funds will be minimal once the plan is part of the future. The city spends a lot of money from a number of sources every year on a variety of projects and some of those projects normally should fall within the large part of the city included in the plan. The planners recommend using some of the money we're going to spend anyway to accomplish parts of the plan.
In fact, some of Orton's recommendations for the Capital Improvement Plan involve the area of the proposed plan by designating federal Community Development money for industrial and economic development projects.
By spending Community Development money within the scope of the plan, we would convince private investors that the city is serious about the future.
If we were willing to pay more taxes to accomplish the plan, that too would be impressive to outsiders.
However, before that will happen, city officials first must sell the merits of the plan to Portsmouth citizens. Then they must offer specific projects that would be accomplished by additional taxes.
I believe in this plan. It does not focus on tearing down and rebuilding so much as it emphasizes building on what we already have. It addresses some problems the city should have solved a long time ago. Many of the recommended projects have been suggested over the years by people who live right here in Portsmouth.
Most of all, the plan gives direction to move the city off square one and toward a better future. It pinpoints areas of concern that must be addressed, plan or no plan, within the next few years.
But to get the most bang for the bucks that will be spent anyway, we need to have the plan in place. I hope Orton's gaffe of coupling the plan with a tax increase does not kill it. by CNB