1. It is a taking of taxpayer property to benefit a private party. When the Supreme Court said New London CT could take a lot of property from a few people and turn it over to a private developer, people around the nation were outraged; on-line polls indicated over 95% disapproved. What is proposed is the taking of a small amount of property from a lot of people. The principle is the same.
2. It will affect the use of sales tax for legitimate government purposes. You saw how badly the tax for the jail failed, despite the dire need to replace the existing firetrap. If people will vote so heavily against that, what do you think they'll do when they see their tax money being lavished on a retail development - especially when space remains at privately financed developments.
3. Warrensburg cannot afford the bad relations. Election results show that the rest of the county is very leery of any proposal that they think will benefit the City of Warrensburg - see the Jail and the Trails Library votes. There are other places with lower tax rates where people can shop.
4. To require the taxpayers to fund this development is unfair to existing retail businesses and owners of other retail developments.

The following was not part of the presentation, but describes just how the TDD works:

• If Wa--Mart agrees to join the TDD, no election is required; it doesn't matter what the city does. The tax goes into effect next month.

• If the City signs on, it doesn't matter what Wal-Mart does. There will be an election, 1 vote per acre, and the developer wins. However, this procedure delays collecting the tax for several months.

• If neither Wal-Mart nor the City agree to participate, then the developer has no recourse to tax Wal-Mart customers.

• The proposal includes the Hawthorne development and Wal-Mart only. It does not affect any other businesses in that area.
• It pays for "infrastructure" - all streets, a walking trail, 1/2 of burying the power lines. It would also buy the right of way for the roads from Hawthorne for $410,000.

• The TDD is for $6.4 million. The developer has already received a tax break for a Neighborhood Improvement District for $2.4 million.