The Notes: Week of June 1 - June 5, 2026

Howdy, Neighbors!  Thanks for joining me again this week for an alderman blog post.  This will be an important one as a long-term decision making process regarding the creation of a new Tax Incremental District (TID) in our city will have a first full council vote this week.  As you might have guessed from that last sentence... it's a Full Council Meeting Week this week.  Below are the details on all of the items of importance this week:

Wednesday, 06/03/2026

City of Appleton Common Council - 7pm  This evening's meeting will begin with nine mayoral proclamations and a request for council approval for the appointment of a new Parks and Recreation Director.  I will be more than happy to vote to approve the city's current Interim Director of Parks and Rec -- Tom Flick -- to the full directorship as he has done excellent work in his department and was extremely helpful when our Vosters Park neighborhood was working to save the woods in that park. 

The next agenda item is termed "Special Resolutions" and calls for the council to approve a resolution creating and approving the project plan and boundaries for Tax Incremental District (TID) #14 in the city.  That item, though, will be taken up later in the agenda.  I suspect that the mayor will move everyone first through the action items that went through committee meetings last week.  

• From the Safety and Licensing Committee:  Two bartender's license applications are up for denial (because statutorily, the city cannot grant licenses to the two applicants due to their criminal records) and one bartender's license which was initially recommended for denial is up for approval.  The latter is due to the court's expungement of an earlier criminal conviction for the applicant. 
  
  
• From the Community Development Committee: A resolution to change the fees charged for snow removal and lawn/weed cutting by the city should a property owner not properly manage their properties per municipal code is back for a vote by the full council.  This was mentioned here and here.  There were two amendments to this resolution added during last week's committee meeting: 1) that the proposed automatic 3% increase each year be reviewed by the Department of Public Works (DPW) annually to ensure that the increase does not make the assessed fees exceed the actual cost to the city for the snow removal and 2) that the fees for lawn/weed maintenance by the city on the property of a non-compliant owner will be $75 for an initial inspection of the property and $225 + actual contractor fees for the warrant needed to cut the growth down and the actual weed/grass cutting.  It's important to note that the Inspections Department makes repeated attempts to contact a non-compliant property owner and allow him/her to rectify the situation before the actual weed/lawn cutting are performed and the fees assessed.
  
  
• And of highest importance from the City Plan Commission and including the "special resolution" noted above:  This is a big one, Neighbors.  I know that some of you do not concur with my feelings regarding this.  But here goes...
  
  The city is proposing to create a Tax Increment District (TID) #14 that encapsulates the majority of the Thrivent property on the north side of Appleton, about 500 acres.  The purported purpose of the TID is to "pay the costs of public infrastructure improvements and/or development incentives as determined by the city." 
  
  Many of you may not know about what TIDs are or how they work.  Here is a video specific to Wisconsin giving a primer on how Tax Increment Financing (TIF) works.  But I find this video, not specific to Wisconsin but still regarding TID financing which explains some of the major concerns and issues that arise from TID finding, to be more helpful in understanding TIF.
  
  An important line in the latter video is "... the general property taxpayers are subsidizing the development costs of the properties located in the TID."  This is corroborated in this article which gives proof of increased property taxes for the general population while a TID exists. 
  
  A TID also requires sacrifices that the school district, the county government, and the technical college make because they cannot benefit from the increased value of the properties in a TID until the TID expires.  In this case, we are looking at 20 years during which there will be no tax benefit to these taxing entities despite the increased property development and tax base value for them on this land.  Keep in mind that the current property owner is a tax-exempt organization.  It is my understanding that they do pay a Payment in Lieu of Property Taxes (PILOT) to the taxing entities here; but that amount could not be anything near the added taxes to be collected on the properties being developed and homes/businesses being built on this land during the next 20 years!  Why should these other taxing entities have to sacrifice what would be increased tax revenue for the next 20 years while the usage of the services provided by these entities increases with the new homes and businesses being developed on this land?
  
  For example, imagine that in the next 10 years, 100 homes are built on this land and 100 families with children move into these homes.  The additional influx of children into the school district will no doubt mean that the price of education in the school district is increased.  But with a TIF here, the school district would have to wait another 10 years to realize the added tax base/tax dollars that this development would bring.  It just doesn't make sense for the greater good of the city, especially when the property owner is a multi-billion-dollar Fortune 500 company.     
  
  It's also important to remember that all Wisconsin TIDs and TIF must pass a "but for" test which generally means that it must be proven that a development would not occur but for the use of TIF.  I cannot imagine justifying this particular project under this test.  Thrivent is a huge and wealthy non-profit organization who own this property on Appleton's north side outright.  It is impossible for me to believe that there are no other ways besides public/taxpayer funding for the development of this land to occur. 
  
  I understand fully that some will say that "it's more complicated than that."  However, I believe it to be just this simple: that the city should not have to subsidize the development of this land for development of it to occur.  The free market and a wealthy non-profit property owner can make development of this land happen without the use of TIF.  Maybe the development would take a bit of a different route than the current owner wishes, maybe it will look different than the current plans that the property owner envisions, and/or maybe it will take a bit more time to move forward or be completed.  But should this property owner truly desire to make this project occur, it no doubt will without TIF. 
  
  TIF should only be used to encourage growth that would otherwise not happen.  And I find it impossible to believe that a multi-Billion-(that's 1,000 million)-dollar financial organization couldn't otherwise make this development happen or sell portions of the property to private developers who could otherwise make the project happen.  Some have said that without this TID and TIF, the development of this land would happen "in piecemeal fashion" and that end result would be less desirable for the community.  I reject that notion as the rest of the north side of Appleton has been developing through the hard work and investment of individual developers for decades.  And those of us who live in District 13 know full well that this has not been detrimental to the overall prosperity of the city or made our neighborhoods any less desirable than had those same developers been given TIF to promote the development here in one fell swoop.  There is nothing to stop the current property owner from selling the land in parcels and requiring the buyers to follow certain pre-determined desires of the property owner.  Private developers willing and able to purchase and develop the land would surely be interested in developing portions of this property using some of the basic plan elements that the current owner has set in their current plans if the end profit is there.  
  
  Which brings up another point that was touched upon at the recent meeting of the Outagamie County Joint Review Board (JRB), an entity made up of appointees from all of the taxing jurisdictions of the proposed new TID whose job it is to ultimately determine if this TID/TIF should be approved.  Tony Saucerman (a former City of Appleton Finance Director and member of the JRB) asked why this property owner (who wishes to be their own developer) should be treated any differently than any other developer who chooses to develop land in the city.  And that point is an important one.  This TIF would, I believe, unfairly benefit only this property owner/developer and not equally be available to benefit the free market of all developers ready, willing, and able to develop lands on the north side of the city.  When you think about that, it's even more disturbing that a large corporate entity such as the owner of this property should be given preferential treatment by the government for the creation of this TID and use of TIF for this property.  Small independent developers suffer from being unable to wield a big stick in negotiations with the city for what one could easily see as "corporate welfare." 
  
  For all these reasons and more, I am greatly concerned about this TID creation and will be voting against it this week.  In so many ways, it is not good and right for the city or for you, the property taxpayers in the city.  I know you don't all agree with me.  So please share whatever possible logical arguments you have in favor of this corporate welfare.  I look forward to hearing from you.
  
  I encourage you to attend this week's council meeting (6th floor of City Hall) at 7pm on Wednesday to share your thoughts on this with the entire council! 
  
  The council may go into closed session for some of this TID/TIF discussion.  But your comments to the council before that will certainly be of benefit in the ultimate full council vote.  

Thank you for tuning in and reading again this week.  I hope that you will reach out should anything above bring up questions or comments from you.  

Have a wonderful week ahead!  Maybe I'll see you on Wednesday evening at City Hall.  If so, please stop at my council desk and say "hi!"  If not, enjoy your week... after you send me your feedback!  :)