As the eminent British philosopher Mick Jagger reminded us, “You can’t always get what you want.” That’s especially true if you’re trying to run a local government in a period of shrinking revenues.
Cessna, the small-aircraft manufacturer, wants $4 million worth of improvements at the Bend Airport, including longer runways and a control tower. One way to get the money for those amenities would be to create an urban renewal district covering more than 500 acres around the airport. The district wouldn’t levy new taxes on existing properties, but it would absorb any increase in tax revenues that developed after its creation.
Cessna has been pushing hard for the urban renewal district, with the backing of the City of Bend. But because the airport lies outside the city limits, the Deschutes County Commission also must approve it. Last week, though, Commissioners Tammy Melton and Dennis Luke killed the plan by stating they wouldn’t vote for it.
We think they made the right call.
Cessna is a good company to have in Central Oregon. It employs about 500 people at (by local standards) decent wages. The other aircraft manufacturer based at the airport, Epic, also is an asset to the economy.
The problem with giving Cessna what it wants is that the new urban renewal district would divert future tax dollars away from important public services, including the county sheriff’s department and a rural fire protection district. According to county estimates, the fire district alone could lose something like $32,000 a year.
As Tammy Melton put it, the choice was between paying for the airport expansion, which would be nice, and ensuring adequate funds for public safety, which is essential. She and Luke chose, correctly, to support the essential services.
Commissioner Mike Daly, dissenting, hinted that Cessna might pack up and move away if it doesn’t get the airport improvements it wants. “Cessna is here, and they don’t have to be here – they can be gone tomorrow,” he was quoted. Our feeling is that if Cessna’s commitment to the Bend area is that shallow, it probably will skip town anyway as soon as somebody else offers it a sweeter deal.
And it’s not as if there isn’t already a juicy carrot to dangle in front of Cessna and Epic: They can apply for up to three years’ worth of property tax abatement under the airport enterprise zone designation the state approved last spring.
Melton would like to hold off on creating the urban renewal district until an airport master plan has been approved, a process that could take about a year. We think that’s a sensible approach. The master plan should give the county a clearer long-term picture of how the airport needs to grow, how long it will take and how to pay for it.
Melton and Luke are making sure county taxpayers get what they need, even if that means not giving Cessna what it wants right away. For taking the responsible approach, here’s the GLASS SLIPPER.
This article appears in Sep 11-17, 2008.
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The good ol boy system in Bend is threatened by a company like Cessna as they actually pay a wage which one can support a family with. However the good ol boys and the boys at the Bulletin do not want to have em city slickers come into town and lose employees to a company like Cessna. Oregon once had the bid to have Microsoft come into Oregon, but the good ol boys killed that deal when they realized they were going to lose a lot of employees to a company which ended up creating more millionaires than any company in the history of business. Those millionaires boomed the economy in Seattle, sold a lot of cars, homes, lots of investments, lots of new start companies in high tech.
Dennis Luke and the likes are self seeking, do not want to support progress as this means they good ol boy friends have to pay their employees more money.
Perhaps not a conspiracy, but the fact remains our area is looking at years to recover from the housing bust and we owe it to our community to invite in companies like Cessna and other companies to support our economy. Paying people minimum wages with tips cannot support the whole economy. This is sad and really pretty pathetic.
We are expected to give contractors breaks on their fees and pay for all the Round-A-Bouts in Bend as this is the real deal. WE are all paying for them and the maintenance and look at what the builders have left us…..nothing other than a foreclosure rate in the stratosphere and a lot of lost homes and ruined families.
Cessna and other companies like this should be invited in with open arms. Cessna will surely allow people to use this airport and do not expect it to be used exclusively by them. Keep in mind they can up and move if they get too much resistance from this community, hence leaving 500 people unemployed and out of work. I will hold Dennis Luke and his good ol boy club responsible for this if it happens.
Most of the politicians here locally have their heads stuck up in an orfice where they cannot deduct nor reasonably understand simple economics.
An expansion of the airport may bring in another 100 jobs as other aircraft companies may look to enter into this area, hence creating more jobs and good paying jobs.
Employers in this area should be ashamed of themselves, especially some of the big builders that built shitty homes, hired out to the cheapest bidder and yet sold and made greedy dollars.
The commercial market is soon to also bust and fall apart for the next decade as it appears and commercial brokers would be wise to get involved and kick some ass on idiots like Dennis Luke who are preventing the local economy to grow and prosper, not just the good ol boys down at the Bulletin and their good ol boy friends.
The bail out in Wash DC is going to benefit a few people and really shaft the rest of us and until we are creating domestic jobs, supporting local and AMERICAN companies that employ AMERICAN PEOPLE, we are going to get the shaft once again.
Bush and Cheney should both be prosecuted on charges of high treason for having raped this country and shipped their dollars to Dubai and other exotic places with no bank information traded.
So lets focus on local smaller companies and support and invite in companies like Cessna to thrive and make a lot of money in this area as they can then pay people more, that money support our economy.
Basing our economy on a ski area and golf is pathetic and this has to stop now.
I am no longer able to accept politicians running our economy as look at what a fine job they have done…….not really and now we are all suffering.
4 million to Cessna is better than giving 1% of our total budget to developers to get their Round-a-bouts built at OUR Expense as WE ALL pay for the maintenance of them. Are they a good idea? yes, but we have to question how they all got put into place.
We should be giving out huge tax breaks to any business that can come in here and pay what Cessna are paying their employees.
Surely we have more than enough doctors in this town , which over half of them are incompetent and they seem to be getting what they need from local politicians as they are all in bed with the good ol boys at the Bulletin.
Finally I have to pick apart The Bulletin as they have not once covered the scumbags that helped take down this town as they are all buddies. This makes me sick and is not free press. The Source was a blessing for this town as it actually report more accurate and current issues once a week than The Bulletin does seven days a week.
Boycott the Bulletin and shut down the free money the City of Bend and the County are giving to subsidize contractors in this town and distribute those funds to people and companies who are actually paying living wages.