It All Comes Down to One Thing "Fair Is Fair!"

EDITORIAL - by JIM ALBERT - Monday, June 22, 2009 - How would you feel if your neighbor paid $6,528 for the same exact truck you just bought for $30,000? Would you be upset if the same dealer that sold you YOUR truck gave your neighbor such a deal but charged you full price? And what would happen if your neighbor only had to pay 65¢ per gallon for the same gas you buy for $2.99 per gallon? Would you feel cheated?

And let's say you and your neighbor both work for the same company. You do the same work. You're both model employees -- neither has missed a day or called in sick needlessly. But, your neighbor makes $15 per hour and you get paid only $3.26 per hour. Would that bother you?

Well, that's exactly what's going to happen if the City Commission approves  Hovey's PILOT request this evening! Every property owner in Ironwood pays real estate taxes based on the value of their property. If Hovey were to pay their fair share of property taxes, based on Hovey's own figures, they would be required to pay $88,239.32 per year. If the PILOT is approved the most they will ever pay is $19,200 per year. If their utilities bills are excessively high or if they aren't able to rent all of their units, they could pay substantially less. Giving an out of town developer such a ridiculously excessive tax break is completely unfair to everybody who pays taxes in Ironwood.

If Hovey were an industrial developer and they were going to create hundreds of new jobs in Ironwood, I'd be all for giving them a tax break. Hovey will not create a single job in this City, however -- not one! All of their profits will immediately be funneled out of the area. What is the benefit to our community? Well, according to supporters of the Hovey project, we'll gain 49 new apartments!

As an insulin-dependent diabetic, I am well aware of the importance of balance in life. Each and every day, I take a specific dosage of insulin. If I don't take enough, the glucose in my blood cannot be properly processed and I get sick (hyperglycemia). If I take too much, I can go into insulin shock (hypoglycemia) and die.

Adding 49 new apartments to a community that already has too many apartments is like giving a diabetic more insulin than he needs. Just like too much insulin can be fatal to a diabetic -- too many apartments can be fatal to a community's housing inventory. Right now, the real estate market is struggling. There are more houses for sale in Ironwood than ever before, and fewer people wanting to buy. Apartment owners have been struggling to keep their apartments filled. There are more apartments in Ironwood than there are people are looking for apartments. Adding more apartments to the mix only make it harder for existing landlords to survive.

It's easy to sit and complain at home; to sit in a local coffee shop; to tip a few beers at the local taverns and gripe about the way things are, but if you want to change things, you need to be heard by those who are in charge. I urge everybody who thinks the Hovey deal is unfair to either come to tonight's public hearing (at 5:15 PM) or to email each and every City Commissioner to voice your concerns. Their email addresses are: Mayor Bruce Noren, bruce@bpla.com; Mayor Pro Tem Bob Burchell, rpburchell@chartermi.net; Commissioner Tom Laabs, t.laabs@yahoo.com; Commissioner Suzanne Toth, stothup@yahoo.com; and Commissioner Gemma Lamb, glamb51@yahoo.com.