BEWARE: When Giles, The FOG & Worsley Use The 'Catch-All' Phrase Community Engagement

Source: Field of Schemes 
[Also see previous post on this site from 16 Feb 2017]
The SB1492 bill would allow creation of “community engagement” districts of up to 30 acres.
Within them, up to half of the state’s share of sales taxes generated from retail sales and hotel stays would be dedicated to paying the bond debt for new sports or entertainment facilities. It also would allow an additional 2 percent district sales tax to be applied to all purchases within the district, with those revenues also dedicated to defraying the cost of facility construction.
This is a bit of a hybrid bill, combining super-TIFs (where half of existing sales and hotel taxes would be kicked back to pay teams’ construction costs) with a new sales tax surcharge in the area around the new venue.
This arrangement would also work for the arts and music theater Worsley and his wife are proposing in Mesa. No conflict of interest in this, is there?” 

Now, the bill has so far only passed one committee in one branch of the Arizona legislature — Sen. Bob Worsley of Mesa used one of those “gut an unrelated bill and insert your own language” tricks to get it on the agenda of his own transportation and technology committee.
 

John Washington on February 15, 2017 at 11:15 am said:

Good work, as always, Neil!
I agree with KT, there are a lot of morons (or sellouts) in the AZ State Legislature…as elsewhere, I’m sure. So, it’s important that we call them out by name.
In this case, Bob Worsley, so called “Republican” senator from Mesa, AZ, is leading the charge to give away our tax money to a millionaire . . .  Bob Worsley is a moron, along with 4 of the 5 other people on his AZ Senate “Transportation and Technology” committee.
More analysis: http://wp.me/p7hU3T-qH

Piggy Wilf on February 15, 2017 at 7:25 pm said:

‘Course I should have added that such a “crisis” only works when you have a whole buncha pols who are either idiots or bought and paid for. And fortunately that pretty much covers 98% of them.

Jerry McKenzie on February 16, 2017 at 10:13 am said:

Fits perfectly with Worsley’s bleed the beast mentality: no tax increases for education, roads, bridges, etc.; but it is OK to give away tax dollars to the filthy rich in order to decrease government.

John Bladen on February 16, 2017 at 11:48 am said:

True Jerry. But why do voters simply accept this? I’ve heard far too often that “you can’t do anything”… well, that’s certainly true if you don’t try. But if the people who are ultimately paying for these facilities/subsidies were more active in their opposition, I wonder if they would go through?
Politicians don’t listen to a few angry voices.

Jerry McKenzie on February 16, 2017 at 1:41 pm said:

The one’s who vote, agree with him. Voter turnout among the young and Mexican-Americans is low and it is reflected in the makeup of Mesa politicians — white Mormon men with a fetish for rich folk. This is a problem in other parts of AZ too. It is all about registering and then going to vote.
I suspect this proposal will die as the state is getting hungry for funds and any carve-out will make it worse. Sales taxes are a big part of the AZ budget, so there is no way to avoid that, and property taxes are low, but if you don’t pay, an investor can swoop in and buy up your tax lien and slap a debt with interest on your property and then, after a time, turn you out.

NotMyGlendale on February 16, 2017 at 1:36 pm said:
                 

A few more articles to digest on Worsley’s shenanigans:
http://www.scottsdalecitizen.com/2017/02/15/roberts-a-225-million-subsidy-for-coyotes-really/
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/mesa/state-senator-wife-raising-funds-for-concert-hall-next-to/article_8ed73d5e-d558-11e2-b86d-0019bb2963f4.html

Also, this article by Representative Anthony Kern on the procedural trick to move the bill between committees:
https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2017/02/14/kern-warns-of-procedural-tricks-regarding-taxpayer-funded-arena/

Worsley is a founder of SkyMall.