Global Warming News

When: 5 p.m. Monday April 21, 2008

Where: Vincent Griego Chambers, 1 Civic Plaza, Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Government Building

What: At tonight’s City Council meeting, Councilors will consider legislation sponsored by Councilors Cadigan, Benton and Garduno that would limit the use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) within Albuquerque.

Although originally used to promote urban infill development, Tax Increment Development Districts (TIDDs) have been being used to subsidize “greenfield” development. TIDDs allow developers to receive up to 75% percent of the district’s incremental gross receipts and property tax revenues for up to 25 years, which very little state or local oversight. Greenfield TIDDs can lure jobs, economic activity and homebuyers out of the existing community and into fringe developments, which hurts our communities, contributes to sprawl and global warming and weakens a community’s tax base.

Specifically, the bill would permit TIDDs only within the1979 boundaries of the City, as defined in the Planned Growth Strategy, within a metropolitan redevelopment area, and/or in a Reserve area in which City Council has previously approved a TIDD. TIDDs would be allowed outside of the 1979 boundaries only if the TIDD were consistent with the No Net Expense Policy and was limited to non-residential development only. The bill would also limit the use of property tax money used to pay for TIDDs.

For the agenda and links to the proposed bill and exhibits, click here.

City Councilors,

My name is Lauren Ketcham, and I’m an advocate with Environment New Mexico. Representing more than 5,000 New Mexicans—many of them here in Albuquerque—we are a state-wide environmental advocacy group working to protect New Mexico’s air, water and open spaces.

I’m here tonight in support of Councilors Cadigan, Benton and Garduno’s TIDD reform bill.

Transportation and land use decisions are contributing to global warming and poor air quality—and subsidizing development on the fringes will only make these problems worse.

New Mexico already ranks 6th in the nation for vehicle miles traveled (VMT) per driver—about 18,500 miles per driver per year.  As a result, the transportation sector is the second largest source of carbon dioxide pollution in the state—and the fastest growing new source of emissions. Cars, trucks and SUVs are also the largest source of hazardous air pollutants nationwide and responsible for about 50% of all smog emissions.

If we’re going to reign in our global warming and air pollution emissions, we need to reduce vehicle miles traveled. To do this, we need to end incentives that drive development to our edges and instead promote smart, infill development and redevelopment.

This bill gets us moving in the right direction and is a good first step to address some of the problems associated with greenfield TIDDs. We respectfully urge the City Council to support this legislation.

Thank you.