Someone asked how many property owners have to sign the petition to authorize a property improvement district.
The first step is that the petitioners must define the geographic area that will benefit from the construction.
Then generally “owners of taxable real property representing more than 50 percent of the appraised value of taxable real property liable for assessment under the proposal” need to approve the petition.
It would appear that the big guys could gang up on the little guys.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
One would conclude that, by “big guys,” you’re thinking of perhaps corporations or other business owners? In that case, maybe we should push for a rider to all those yuge tax incentives our City Council hands out so freely that excludes any business that is getting such a break is excluded from participation in any property improvement district? After all, if they aren’t paying taxes, their property should not be considered to be “real.”
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I agree. I guess since the state is starting to discuss ways to limit property tax increases, our “leadership” is looking to find ways to get around that and continue their spending spree.
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This is not limited to commercial properties.
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What I meant was what I surmised from your original post: businesses’ input to this process would outweigh that of homeowners’ input, simply because of the amount of influence they might have over elected officials.
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They are still paying taxes. They get some of it back from the city and the state. The taxes they do pay — the amount remaining after the reimbursements — will still add up to more than the pitiful tax contributions from 90% of the business that surround them.
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