Lost in the Standard Blade a couple weeks ago, amidst the ongoing shenanigans of a certain local charter high school, was an article about the Brighton Fire District’s plans for future stations and, more specifically, Fire Chief Mark Bodane’s belief that developers, not taxpayers, should pay for the facilities.
I foolishly thought the article might inspire some positive feedback or maybe even perhaps a small parade through the streets of town.
Instead, maybe readers were inclined to think, “I’ll believe it when I see it” or “this guy sure isn’t from around here.”
After all, while the idea of developers pitching in a buck here or there might be germane to Bodane’s native Prairie State (Illinois for all you poli-sci majors), here it is akin to poor Bob Cratchit begging the miserly Scrooge for a plinckett or thrickel (whatever the going currency was in the times of Dickens).
So residents, the veritable Tiny Tim when it comes to footing the tax bill, can be understood if they take a wait-and-see approach to any assertions they won’t be left on the hook to pay for new development in the fire district.
However, because an article titled, “Chief vows to ‘stick it to poor saps again’” would have not only made the front page but undoubtedly inspired a tumult of letters on our opinion pages, I think it is fair to give Bodane and the district credit for, at the very least, floating the idea that developers pay for what they wrought. It beats the alternative – immediately shaking an empty tin can in front of voters.
Of course, the long, winding road from words to actions is dotted with potholes including an Interstate 25-sized gully that prevents mandatory impact fees on developers.
With that in mind, the other obstacle standing between any local entity and over-taxed residents getting a fair share from developers is what people in some places would call a lack of testicular fortitude. That coming from not only asking developers that they help out but, when they turn their pockets inside out and feign poverty, still demanding their assistance or, in the fire district’s case, dousing them with a high-pressure hose.
If the fire district needs a model where developers have been willing to help, it would be School District 27J where the Capital Facilities Fee Foundation has wrangled some dough from developers even though the totals seem puny compared to the transformations new growth has caused the school district.
But while the fire district can be commended for looking first to developers, it is also obvious Bodane is a quick study, realizing that this same community turned down a major mill levy increase several years ago that included money for new stations and only more recently agreed to a smaller tax increase.
Voters, aside from the fact that they experienced unease at seeing firefighters at the grocery store (call it a love of gaunt and scrawny firefighters) collectively decided that having their house burn to the ground was easier to take than forking over the money for a new fire station down the street.
That’s a frightening indication of how much voters really hate the thought of any new taxes.
So a wise fire district knows it can’t necessarily count on the voters being in a giving mood the next time around and must study another options.
Logically, there is no reason developers wouldn’t want to chip in especially when it comes to something like a fire station. Proper fire coverage equals a better department ISO rating and that equals lower insurance premiums for homeowners.
However, the district also must fear that the ongoing economic downturn and development slowdown will spurn the prevalent theory of developer contribution and lead us back to offering yams and fruit baskets and a ceremonial key to the city to burden taxpayers, add traffic and pollution and take away its identity.
If the fire district is able to get developers on board with its future plans, good for them.
Until they do, I’d save those plincketts.
And thrickels, too.
Kevin Denke’s column Spare Change appears weekly in the Brighton Blade and every Wednesday here at his blog. Contact him at kdenke@metrowestnewspapers.com or 303-659-2522, ext. 225.
