City Council Rubber Stamps City’s Half Million Dollar Giveaway Ankle Biter by Michael C. Hild - June 29, 2016June 29, 201645 So Mayor Jones and City Council just gave away 14 tax delinquent, blighted properties it recently seized as reported by The Richmond Times-Dispatch. Break out the noisemakers and party balloons, right? Way to go City, fix those blighted properties!!! Well actually…this is just the latest example of another fraud scheme by the City that cost taxpayers and property owners over half a million dollars in losses, and could be considered theft. It is eerily similar to the last example of a giveaway by the City’s rathole, otherwise knows as the Richmond Economic Development Authority. Why is the City giving away properties it has seized for delinquent taxes, rather than selling them for full market value to the highest bidder at auction? Does anyone else find this ironic? Didn’t Mayor Jones just announce that he essentially maxed out the City’s credit card and needs to dip into the emergency fund for $5.8 Million just to keep the city functioning? He also proposed raising taxes across the board for items such as Meals Tax, Real Estate Tax, Personal Property Tax, and many others, just to maintain the City’s current level of subpar service and funding its schools. Hmmm, it sure sounds like that Friday night beer at Hardywood and dinner at one of Richmond’s awesome restaurants is about to get more expensive…all because of ineptitude at City Hall. Here is an example of how the City is doing dumb, some might even argue fraudulent, things with your property. The pictured lot above doesn’t look so blighted, albeit it is admittedly a somewhat dated photograph. There is development happening on both sides of the lot in question. Must be extremely valuable as a result given the neighboring work, right? Well, the City gave the lot away to a predetermined friend for $1,750. And the somewhat more recent picture from January 2015 shows it with a coming soon sign out front already. Really??? That doesn’t add up. Think that’s an anomaly? Well, you would be wrong. Here is a list of the tax-delinquent properties and their assessed values that were given away just this past week at City Council’s Monday Meeting. Many of these properties are in the rapidly expanding Church Hill and Union Hill neighborhoods. Most have structures on them in varying conditions of blight. But not a single one of these properties is so poor that it would go for the ridiculously low amount of $1,750 if sold as part of an open and fair process at market levels. Actually, these properties would sell for far more than what their assessed values are, as that is generally the trend across the City. Address Assesed Value Sale Price Loss 1118 North 20th St. $126,000 $1,750.0 ($124,250) 1333 North 27th St. $20,000 $1,750.0 ($18,250) 2015 Venable St. $61,000 $1,750.0 ($59,250) 807 North 24th St. $32,000 $1,750.0 ($30,250) 1100 North 23rd St. $20,000 $1,750.0 ($18,250) 1217 North 29th St. $20,000 $1,750.0 ($18,250) 824 North 24th St. $36,000 $1,750.0 ($34,250) 902 North 25th St. $34,000 $1,750.0 ($32,250) 1517 North 35th St. $51,000 $1,750.0 ($49,250) 2610 Houston Ave. $55,000 $1,750.0 ($53,250) 805 Chimborazo Blvd. $35,000 $1,750.0 ($33,250) 1913 3rd Ave. $24,000 $1,750.0 ($22,250) 1309 North 27th St. $22,000 $1,750.0 ($20,250) 1313 North 27th St. $22,000 $1,750.0 ($20,250) Total $558,000 $24,500 ($533,500) Now, it bears mentioning that the properties were given away to low income housing groups, which sounds somewhat noble. But some of these beneficiaries are financially questionable in their ability to actually develop the properties. And what ties do these recipients have to Mayor Jones, the staff at Economic and Community Development and its real estate office, or to that of various City Council members? If we can’t fund our schools, we have massive problems with fixing sidewalks, patching potholes, and collecting leaves, why are we giving away property for over a half million dollars less than it is worth? I suspect any additional monies would go a long way toward pothole repair, schoolteacher salaries, and a myriad other infrastructure projects that have no funding. And most importantly, selling properties for full market value would help us avoid putting the City into further debt and incurring interest charges. Mayor Jones and specifically his Economic and Community Development Office real estate staff members are inept at best, and crooks at worst. City Council, you rubber stamped this giveaway with a unanimous vote. As such, you are both culpable for the ubiquitous governmental fraud and incompetence we see throughout City Hall. Please stop the insanity, and look out for the City and it’s taxpayers for once. It’s what we pay you to do.
RT @DogtownDish: City Council Rubber Stamps City’s Half Million Dollar Giveaway #rva https://t.co/psHeNsPNhk Reply
RT @DogtownDish: City Council Rubber Stamps City’s Half Million Dollar Giveaway #rva https://t.co/psHeNsPNhk Reply
RT @DogtownDish: City Council Rubber Stamps City’s Half Million Dollar Giveaway #rva https://t.co/psHeNsPNhk Reply
RT @DogtownDish: City Council Rubber Stamps City’s Half Million Dollar Giveaway #rva https://t.co/psHeNsPNhk Reply
No, he prefers making his own laws instead of upholding existing law as the state constitution says he is supposed to do. He is just one of the cronies now, just at the state level instead of city. Reply
“Now, it bears mentioning that the properties were given away to low income housing groups…But some of these beneficiaries are financially questionable in their ability to actually develop the properties.” It would have been more honest and direct to start the conversation there and not wait till past the midway point to mention it. I think this practice is perhaps unwise but not fraudulent. Bear in mind, once the City acquires a property, it’s their responsibility to maintain and there are perhaps liability issues as well we don’t know about. If these properties are in neighborhoods that are deemed undesirable, they could sit on the market for a good while. Reply
I agree entirely. This article does not present the issue in its entirety. It’s my understanding that this particular area has been undergoing revitalization efforts for quite some time and that giving away these properties to low-income housing groups is one component of this effort. Reply
Bingo. The tradeoff you make here is instead of taking a (it’s not going to be market rate at a tax sale, let’s be very clear about that) small amount of cash now by holding an auction, putting the properties in a lot of disparate hands and potentially not seeing them developed for a very long time, thus not offering any improvement to the neighborhood, you instead put them in the hands of people that have the capacity to *quickly* turn them into really nice houses, which *quickly* then start generating meaningful property tax revenue again. In the longer run, it’s absolutely a fiscal win. Talk to anybody who lives in a neighborhood these (nonprofit!) groups have developed in, and you’ll hear nothing but praise for the work they do. TL;DR: This is not corruption, this is not fraud, and this did not cost taxpayers half a million dollars. Reply
The City nearly always sells properties with Development Agreements and if they are not developed post sale within a certain timeframe, they revert back to the owner (the City). Can be done with an auction as well by making the signing of the Development Agreement a condition of the sale. There are tons of developers who who gladly build on these lots and would have paid significantly higher sums. Reply
The Dogtown Dish “if they are not developed post sale within a certain timeframe, they revert back to the owner (the City)” I think that’s a sound idea. Perhaps a 50/50 split doing it this way and via the non-profit groups. There’s definitely a need for low-income housing. Reply
I’m sure there are developers who would pay more cash today for some of these properties in a tax auction. So the general fund would take a bit more cash on the very short term. But taking in a bit of cash in the short term isn’t what governments are in the business of. Neighborhood stabilization and workforce housing are both serious priorities for the city. Taking possession of the properties at minimal cost enables these nonprofits to help us with those goals – certainly it’s much harder to build nice houses if you have to sink a lot of money into acquiring the lots – and at a level that significantly improves neighborhoods in transition. Reply
Look, no argument here that low income housing is important, in the right context. That being said, the city just had to dip into emergency reserves to keep the lights on. Yet it approved giving away these properties in the same breath? Let’s right the fiscal ship please before giving anything else away. Reply
The fiscal ship won’t turn on a few thousand dollars that weren’t earned from a property auction. It’s a lot bigger than that. But long story short, this transfer is not a massive fraud — or a fraud on any level — and it did not cost the taxpayers half a million dollars. Reply
We’re going to have to agree to disagree here. Seizing private property, albeit from an owner who has not kept up on property taxes, and handing it out to select friends of the city for more than half a million dollars less than what it’s worth, is the very definition of fraud. Reply
That’s the thing though – these agencies didn’t become “friends of the city” because their boards hang out with the mayor or something. They’re friends of the city because they have a long record of exemplary public service *to* the city, connecting families to homeownership and revitalizing neighborhoods while working tirelessly to raise the funds to do so – by themselves! – year after year. Reply
If public service = taking City/other people’s property for free, we should solicit the county jail as well. Long list of qualified beneficiaries there as well. Reply
Michael Hild, I encourage you to reach out to Better Housing Coalition, Project:HOMES, and Richmond Metro Habitat for Humanity. I’m sure they’d be happy to give you a tour of some of the quality, affordable homes they build for low-moderate folks in our community. Make it a day, go visit or volunteer at some of the owner-occupied homes they repair so you can see the conditions in which many city residents live. These organizations do amazing work, and these 14 homes will exponentially improve the lives of 14 families. Reply
Thank you, Chris! Regardless of your position on City Council’s actions, the fact that they confiscate blighted property means that it will one day not be a burden to the neighbors or neighborhoods in close proximity. And that City Council is willing to grant some of the confiscated properties to groups like BHC and the other two you mention means that we are able to develop and preserve high-quality homes for families of modest means who are rapidly getting priced out of the area. This helps decentralize poverty and give everyone better choices about where they can live. Reply
Also, I encourage the author and anyone reading it to check the financial statements (990) of any of the organizations receiving properties. They are a matter of public record and are usually also published on the organizations’ website. Reply
Great to see the love fest between the City employee in ECD (Chris Yenson), and the beneficial recipient, BHC who received the free property gifts from ECD at the expense of taxpayers and property owners. Reply
Regardless of “how great” the organization that got the freebies is, it is still robbing the taxpayers of potential additional revenue to give it away to their cronies. Surprised they didn’t just make it a $1 and really thumb their nose at the citizens. $500,000 would pay for a lot of sidewalk repair and fill some potholes. Reply
Exponentially improve the lives of 14 families, while costing the rest of us more in taxes and receiving less service. I’m tired of my car being beat to heck when I drive in my neighborhood, trip over broken sidewalks, I’m sick of seeing people move out once they have kids, or not willing to move into the city because the schools are crap. We’re a growing city with incompetent leadership. Well said, Michael C. Hild “Friday night beer at Hardywood and dinner at one of Richmond’s awesome restaurants is about to get more expensive…all because of ineptitude at City Hall.” Reply
