HomeMy Public PortalAbout2018.11.03 T Blanchard Fw_ Midas GoldFrom:Jackie Aymon
To:Anette Spickard; BessieJo Wagner; City Council
Subject:Fw: Midas Gold
Date:Monday, November 05, 2018 5:26:13 PM
From: Tom Blanchard <tjblanchard@svskylan.net>
Sent: Saturday, November 3, 2018 8:25 PM
To: Jackie Aymon
Subject: Midas Gold
Mayor Aymon,
Thank you for the note….
I was invited to appear on Idaho Matters as a result of the
presentation in McCall. I think my initial statement captures
my thinking and your challenge. It can be heard at
http://www.boisestatepublicradio.org/programs/idaho-matters#stream/0
Some observations since being in McCall. Many of your down
valley neighbors will be more lenient in their evaluation of
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impact. Jobs speak loudly. They also represent entities that do
not have the financial resources to do extensive land planning.
Valley County generally fits in that same financial and cultural
environment.
From my experience here in Blaine County, the entity that has
financial flexibility has to take the lead, and even carry the
larger burden of valley wide coordination and studies (spell
that McCall). That suggests that the degree to which Midas
works with the community will be highly impacted by what
McCall does.
I have advocated joining the Community Agreement group on
the grounds that you need to be at the table in all cases. This
is also an opportunity to demonstrate to the other entities
that there are measurable impacts that will go to the taxpayers
if not supported by Midas. A prime goal of the Community
Agreement group should be to negotiate a second community
agreement that identifies the impacts, provides justifiable
rational as to why Midas needs to contribute to mitigation.
In some ways I see this as analogous to an annexation where
the city negotiates an agreement that mitigates long term
impacts. You first want to evaluate the Level of Service (LOS)
for all services the cities and county provide. If you currently
provide one police officer per 500 population, then the
population increase projections from from Midas will give you
a LOS demand as a result of the project. If Midas brings in
1,200 jobs, 50% of which move into Valley County, it
represents 600 potential families x 2.7 per household = 1,620
people moving into the county over the first three years. That
translate then into 3.25 new police officers needed in the
county, each of which needs a vehicle, desk space, radio
equipment, etc. Schools will add pupils and teachers, park and
trail use increases, roads, social services….
And you need to get Midas to break down the tax distribution
to each local entity. Right now they give a figure for a
combined tax revenue to “state and local governments” but do
not tell you what McCall could expect to see in future tax
revenue as a result of the Midas project. Midas will be the first
to suggest that tax revenue to the cities and county will be
available to pay for the cost for long term infrastructure and
an increased Level of Service. Unfortunately, nothing that I see
in the documents provides financial clarity as to how much it is
going to cost and how much revenue will be generated. Midas
needs to step up and work with the entities of Valley County to
evaluate these issue and identify a reasonable level of financial
responsibility.
I hope you enjoy large challenges.
Sincerely,
Tom Blanchard
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