Residents question tax impacts, planning, and priorities at Malaga TIF meeting

WENATCHEE — After more than an hour of explanations from consultants and Port commissioners at Mission View Elementary on November 17, residents took the microphone with pointed concerns about the proposed Malaga tax-increment financing district, challenging its impact on property taxes, fire and law enforcement budgets, park funding, and the level of planning that would accompany a multi-million-dollar public investment.

Speakers alternated between frustration, skepticism and cautious support for redevelopment of the long-idle Alcoa property — a goal that some said they share — while raising questions about how a TIF might affect community services during that process.

One of the first audience members to speak questioned whether revenue that would normally lower property tax rates would instead be redirected to TIF projects. “That money does not go to reduce your taxes anymore,” the resident said, adding that if junior taxing districts needed to “recoup” their losses, they would have to seek voter-approved levies. The resident described the impact as a tax increase “whether you approve the TIF or not.”

Not lowering taxes in the future is not the same as raising taxes. But it feels like it to many residents, and it seemed as though all of those residents were at Mission View Elementary that night.

Chelan County Assessor Wes Cornelius, whose office would be responsible for calculating tax impacts over 25 years, made a somewhat unexpected point: The TIF structure would require extensive manual work his staff is not equipped to absorb, he says. “Everything’s going to have to be hand-calculated,” said Cornelius. “We will never make it… the county doesn’t have the funds to go give me another body or two to do this.”

Commissioners noted that TIF law allows reimbursement to the county for the work — not like “paying salaries” for just anyone, which is not permissible with TIF funds, but reimbursement for TIF-specific needs — but Cornelius warned that the workload itself could exceed existing capacity.

Several residents pressed the Port on its lack of specific development commitments for the Alcoa site. One resident, referencing a recent meeting with the Malaga Water District, urged the Port to slow down the process. “I think that there needs to be much more laid-out plans about how this money is going to be spent,” he said. “What would you develop [the Alcoa property] into? Who do you have lined up?”

That question is impossible for the Port to answer at this point: No companies are or could be “lined up” to take over a property that does not yet have adequate infrastructure, and which has not yet undergone the cleanup that Alcoa has yet to do on the site. That, the Port commissioners argue, is the reason that the TIF funding is needed — in order to get investors, developers, and indeed, customers, interested in getting onto the property.

Others raised concerns about nearby data center development outside the proposed district, worrying that TIF-funded utilities could serve those projects without clear benefits for Malaga neighborhoods.

Representatives from fire and parks districts said they were worried about losing future revenue while facing growing service costs. One fire commissioner asked what data the Port had gathered to determine community support. “How do you justify implementing this without surveying your constituents?” he asked.

A resident speaking in support of community pools warned that Eastmont Parks is “already in crisis” due to TIF impacts, saying that the district’s reduced funding could jeopardize youth swim programs and public access in the summer. They noted that the district recently sought a levy to offset revenue loss, but voters rejected it.

That seems to be the crux of the opposition. Everyone understands that projects and infrastructure require funding, and some even support those projects, but almost no one is anything other than adamantly opposed to any kind of tax increase. And so, even in a situation like the Port potentially approving the TIF — which would, itself, not raise taxes in any way — many residents will continue to see it as a tax hike since it affects the junior taxing districts, which will have to come to the community for a vote, and almost every effort to raise revenue gets defeated at the ballot box, no matter who puts it on the ballot.

The debate nearly becomes cyclical at that point: Residents see Microsoft paying massive property taxes in the future, and see that tax windfall as a way to fund all of the projects they support. But they don’t recognize that Microsoft wouldn’t be there in the first place if it hadn’t been for the efforts of the Port to secure the land for development. The very efforts that the Port is trying to undertake with the TIF are the kinds of things that led to the creation of jobs and business in the area before, that now residents see as part of the existing tax base.

The tension peaked when an active firefighter and former Marine, Gavin Burnett, challenged whether the port was using the meeting to genuinely hear public input or simply to check a procedural box. “Has there ever been a discussion about a public vote?” Burnett asked, saying most residents would prefer the issue be decided directly by taxpayers. “Many of you have already made up your minds.”

In the final public statement of the evening, Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison urged both the Port and Chelan County commissioners to slow down and negotiate jointly. He said his office has been instructed to control staffing costs while the county faces demands tied to large-scale development. “We do not bring big businesses into Chelan County unless we have an agency that can respond quickly,” Morrison said. He warned that reductions in law enforcement staffing would lead to slower response times and rising crime even as the county works to recruit high-value employers.

Morrison called for the Port and County to “pause, put on air, and see what you can do to make sure the county’s needs are met,” saying public safety must be addressed alongside economic growth.

After the final speaker, Port leaders remained to answer questions individually and reiterated the public schedule: Additional hearings and community comment opportunities before commissioners consider a decision in December.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media