Erika Sitz [address omitted] was concerned if the City was getting into a Church State problem which she is being told is not true. She inquired if the property the school is going to be located on is tax exempt.
Mr Cairns replied yes.
Ms Sitz made the statement that the City is placing tax-exempt property in the Town Center which is supposed to increase the tax base for the City. She questioned if the PACT Charter School had any connection with the Anoka Hennepin School District.
Mr Cairns explained that Anoka Hennepin was a sponsor for the PACT Charter School for the first several years but they are now sponsored by Bethel College which complies with all the rules of Church and State. [sic]
[emphasis added]. Subsequently, city officials played games, as noted.
Below via a screenshot, beyond dispute is the truth - de minimis payments made upon an eleven million assessed property [costing substantially more simply to build that building then land and building stand assessed, the minutes said twelve million; for bonding for construction, so that the million dollar underassessment is manifest].
Same link, same meeting minutes excerpt, saying this:
Mr Cairns explained that the PACT Charter School has a guaranteed price maximum for construction so the price of the building cannot increase unless PACT were to come up with additional money to cover those costs. If they were faced with an overage they would have to reduce what they do in [sic] the building.
Concilmember Elvig replied in regards to Ms Sitz's statement that the non-taxation issue is somcthing the Council looked at very heavily in the process. There was forgiveness of costs such as land for City Hall as part of adding the PACT Charter School into the Town Center, because the devcloper thought it was very important. It does not eliminate any assessments on the property. [unclear]
Councilmember Cook stated that the Town Center is being developed to do more than create tax revenue. They [who?]want to be able to offer many things to the community and one of those things is a school.
Mr Cairns noted that they have handled 13 similar transactions in the last four years in Minnesota for Charter School. Half of those projects were renovations of existing properties but they have also built new buildings several times with the closest school being the Woodbury math and science building.
Motion by Councilmember Kurak seconded by Councilmember Elvig to adopt the amended Resolution#03-12-334 presented by staff at the meeting authorizing the preliminary issuance of approximately 12 million dollars in revenue bonds to be used for the construction of a PACT Charter School.
Motion carried. Voting Yes Mayor Gamee and Couneilmembers Kurak, Elvig, Cook, Pearson, Strommcn and Zimmerman. Voting No None.
With bonding represented at twelve million, and with the assessment as it stands [see screenshot below] there is a discrepancy that perhaps legislative hearings might uncover - if bonds were attained in excess of needed construction funds, the question being whether there was any "slush fund" left over, to be looted possibly as has been alleged in the St. Croix Prep. Academy situation; and if an overage was there in the PACT school situation, was it handled prudently for future reasonable operating expenditure, or looted by insiders as alleged at St. Croix? Having the PACT school insiders at hearings under oath discuss this would be a true public benefit.
Below is the screenshot from Anoka County Assessor records, showing the truth is a de minimis level of payment by the underlying corporate owner of that multi-million dollar property, while collecting rental income from PACT school to provide tax-exempt lender interest income on the bonds and for amortization of principal.
And the taxpayers, Ben Dover the Ramsey Taxpayer ever-smiling on his statue pedestal across the street from the City Hall -&- Norman Castle we all recognize for the architectural statement it is, takes it in the shorts.
It is a lie that this PACT school-related owner of high-priced prime-locale land pays anything like a fair share of property tax, indeed, it pays virtually nothing and is of no benefit to the community - only adding to traffic while affirmatively denying Ramsey children preferential enrollment treatment despite the clear intent of legislation saying the local residents' children deserve a priority.
Go figure.
Here's the TRUTH, despite what some have said, about --
THE PROPERTY TAX SITUATION OF PACT SCHOOL LAND AND IMPROVEMENTS:
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[as always click on the image to enlarge and read it]
.......................And then there is this:
Hi. I'm Ben Dover, the Ramsey taxpayer. You probably have seen me, as you were driving either way on Sunwood, at the Ramsey Town Center, where I am stationed. Ever alert, ever smiling. I feel like a mushroom, even though they keep me in the outdoors all the time, cold of winter and heat of summer, daylight and dark; and since I am painted metal, they, honestly speaking, don't feed me anything. I persevere, always smiling, despite adversity, indignity, and abuse inflicted as it has been, as it will be, and as it is.________UPDATE__________
Ben Dover asked that I raise this question. Below is the SoS online record of the corporate filing for the owning entity of the PACT Charter School land and buildings; the folks behind the curtain -- and they founded their ownership arm back in Feb. 2002, almost two years before the Ramsey hearing in Dec. 2003; yet why, Ben wants to know, was the existence of this entity, and identification of its shareholder structure not divulged Dec. 2003 when the debate was pending over siting the thing in Ramsey Town Center on tax-free land via tax-free bonding?
It is a good question.
It is relevant to what's good or not good for a community to know the people behind the curtain. Perhaps the Saltzman hearings will get to that. Ben and Toto would love it if they did. After all, it was Toto who pulled aside the curtain so we could see the wizard. A wizard just like lawyer Cairns with those thirteen other schools four years prior to the Dec. 2003 Ramsey council hearing? Perhaps, perhaps not. Ben is curious - and so am I.
Who owns the ownership shares for the hard assets?
In effect, who owns the hard assets?
The real property. The bootstrapped building, a piece of raw land with public subsidy cash flows servicing and retiring the bonds for adding a ten-figure multi-million dollar building upon that raw land; via the lease financing of the thing?
Who sits in the driver's seat, that way?
What were the thought processes and actions, in arranging it so, as opposed to some other arrangement? Lawmakers, will you help Ben find out. For this and every other big ticket charter school adventure? It's relevant to reform to smoke out key players. After all, it might it turn out that multiple deals have overlapping individual participation in ultimate ownership arrangements. Wouldn't that be cute?