No WhiteWash!

The Times-News article at first glance portrays a dynamic picture of growth for the past year for the City of Kingsport.

Mike Freeman, building official stated;

“We have hundreds of folks moving into the Kingsport area each year, but only a limited amount of developable land inside the city limits,” Freeman said. “That’s why annexation is critical, to bring more developable land inside the city for residential construction.”

You can have residential construction in the county, but the city want to annex so they can get the tax dollars.

City Manager John Campbell stated;

“Just this past seven days, there have been four different developers in my office who are keenly interested in looking for land to build on in Kingsport,” Campbell said. “We need to be able to ensure city services are available at developable properties to make these potential projects become reality.”

This sound like the city is in the real estate business. Are the county residents going to have more annexations?

What the Times-News doesn’t mention is the incentives that the city gives. At the last BMA meeting it was mentioned that Food City was given an incentive. Eastman was give a big incentive by the BMA. (see Unbelievable Corporate Welfare in Kingsport). Also, it does not include the Developer Materials Agreements that the city has with developers. The city will give free hydrants, manholes, and piping free of charge if the developer builds within the city. Of course, the city would have to annex first for this to happen.

While it appears in the article that the city will be getting a lot of tax dollars right away, but a lot of this is more long term. That is the tax dollars will be coming later on depending on the incentive. The $12 million Higher Education Center will not be generating taxes since I don’t think the city will tax itself.

The point to all of the above is the City of Kingsport needs to watch it’s spending and it is even more important now the way the economy is.