By now everyone is aware of a plan that seeks to utilize an economic incentive known as an enterprise zone to fundamentally change our local system of governance without a vote of the people. The so called community enhancement plan pitched by the Port of Coos Bay would effectively privatize our local government by diverting tens of millions of dollars in property taxes from a $4 billion LNG export terminal to two private corporations. Port CEO David Koch refers to the concept as a “more intelligent use of the money.” shutterstock_35399203In other words, Koch and other plan architects which include Commissioner John Sweet want us to trust them because they know best, even better than we do, how to spend our money. Sweet wants to place 25% of the money into a private corporation to “build infrastructure”, something our taxing districts already do when they have adequate funding and to gamble invest in new companies. Koch wants to do this because that pesky Jordan Cove terminal inconveniently happens to sit outside the North Bend and Coos Bay taxing districts and without this plan those cities will not get any of the money. (Sort of like Powers doesn’t get any of Coos Bay’s money…)

Of all the elected officials to actually stand up and loudly insist on holding on to the responsibility of managing public funds granted to him by the voters, it was airport board member Mike Lehman who dissected the plan and called it what it is, “money laundering.” You can watch Lehman at 48:30 at Coos Media or read about his comments in The World.

According to the CCD (Coos Curry Douglas Development Council) spokesperson, Margaret Barber, Veresen, Inc owner of Jordan Cove LNG would be satisfied with the standard three year enterprise zone exemption. Barber says they, whomever “they” are, asked the company to apply for the fifteen year exemption. Whether this is accurate it should be noted that from the beginning Jordan Cove has always offered to make annual payments of $32 million in lieu of taxes during the five year term of the standard exemption and $42 to $52 million per year thereafter. Several entities signed identical resolutions attesting to this understanding. Now the plan calls for $12 million per year and less than $26 million a year in community service fees thereafter and yet Koch asserts the company will pay the same in fees as it would in taxes over the life of the plan. Koch had no explanation for this difference at a recent work session and claimed to be unaware of the resolution even though the Port passed the resolution last fall.

This fiscal year, Oregon will back fill county school districts to the tune of $57 million to make up for inadequate funding from local property taxes. Part of the plan calls for directing 50% of the service fees into an education foundation that may or may not spend the money on education. Helping education is named as the primary impetus behind this plan which will divert as much as $23 million away from the state school fund and yet during the aforementioned meeting, neither Koch nor Sweet were aware of how much money the state contributes to education in Coos County. Not only do they not know, they aren’t interested and Koch directed me to find out for myself.

The one thing that stands out during all these presentations is that the cabal/architects are wholly unprepared to answer questions. Koch was a gaping vacuum of ignorance and essentially threatened to pick up his crayons and go home when he couldn’t answer questions from Bob Main.

Then we have the whole mission creep thing. Koch defends the waterfront revitalization component of this plan that distributes 25% of the fees into a private non-profit called the Bayfront Investment Corp as a way of expanding the boundaries of the Coos County Urban Renewal District but it is really a gambling operation headed by a local cabal with a long history of publicly funded disasters. Meanwhile, Veresen is actively seeking investors and a long term property tax exemption would certainly sweeten the deal.

Sweet along with Commissioner Melissa Cribbins seem to believe the privatization scheme is worth working on even though it would deprive the county of more than $6 million annually and makes a mockery of public process. It is pretty scary when we have elected officials effectively colluding to change our system of self governance and to divert public funds into a private endowment worth more than $200 million headed by private individuals. Nonfeasance, misfeasance and malfeasance are all terms that come to mind.

Recently I asked Sweet why not just do away with the urban renewal district and enterprise zone and he said we need those tools to “stay competitive” even though there is no empirical evidence those tools offer a return to the taxpayer. Sweet is not suited to public office and would probably be much happier heading SCDC than being a commissioner. March 11 is the filing deadline to run for office and owing to his earlier failures to listen to his constituents combined with this epic democratic catastrophe, Sweet is probably the most vulnerable and most deserving of being replaced.