The biggest part of last night’s Goldendale City Council meeting came with a discussion of tax increment financing by Todd Chase of FCS group. The Redmond, Washington-based company provides rate and financial advice to cities, counties and other public bodies. Tax increment financing takes advantage of the fact that taxes go up every year by taking the increase and putting it into projects that reduce blight or promote growth. This is attractive to many public bodies, because it can be done without having to go for voter approval.
The proposal before the city would be to put together a district that would involve the downtown and an area on the south end of the city where there is space to develop. It would involve creating a new east-west collector street between South Columbus and South Roosevelt streets among other things. The matter will be discussed at a future meeting.
In other actions, councilors approved a water connection outside the city limits but in the water service area, and heard a presentation on the possibility of holding a Native American land acknowledgement at the beginning of meetings.