Mayor Beach Pace took to video this weekend from the Hidden Creek Community Center, attempting to link the City’s massive data center tax giveaways this past week to beloved community parks. But a look at the actual funding sources reveals a narrative that is part PR, part fiction, and entirely misleading. Our Mayor does not even understand where the money came from to build Hidden Creek Park or “Oro,” the Forest Giant. But she runs down to shoot a video and credit the Data Centers in Hillsboro to convince you all that what the City is allowing to happen, supporting, and pushing for more of, will bring us “prosperity” and more cool stuff!. No wonder a recall is in the works. View this post on Instagram
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Mayor Pace suggested in her carefully prepared video, which was clearly orchestrated after careful wordsmithing, that “economic development” (data centers) provided the Hidden Creek Community Center and the “Oro” playground, without raising taxes. The public record says otherwise. The Real Record: In 2008, the City attempted to fund a recreation center via a $44.5 million bond measure (Measure 34-156). Voters rejected it. The City didn’t find “new” revenue from data centers; it was forced to scrape together System Development Charges (SDCs) and internal capital funds, fees paid by every home builder and small business in the city. General Fund money does come from property taxes, but there is no record of it being used to construct the facilities themselves.
The “Oro” Playground Myth:The $15 million inclusive playground project to actually pay for Oro was largely funded by a $3 million federal grant, a $1.5 million state grant, and over $500,000 in private donations from local families and nonprofits.
The Takeaway From the park Video?
The Mayor claims the General Fund paid for these amenities because data centers “paid into it,” but she is performing a financial shell game. The construction of Hidden Creek and “Oro” was actually made possible by System Development Charges, Parks and Recereation Capital Reserves, Metro bond taxes, federal grants, and $500,000 in private donations from Hillsboro families.
While data centers do pay “Community Service Fees” into the General Fund, these are the very same “Claw Back” fees that the City keeps for to use for work force training and some economic development while depriving the Hillsboro School District of tens of millions in base property taxes, not to mention Washington County which is being starved of tens of millions in property tax revenues. The Mayor is standing in a park built by your neighbors and regional taxes to tell you that a corporate “fee” is better than corporations like data centers paying their “propoerty tax.” It isn’t. Data centers aren’t the heroes of this story—they are getting a 25-year free ride on infrastructure the rest of us already funded, while the City uses the “crumbs” of their fees to provide a moral shield for a policy that is starving our schools.
Check My Sources here: https://www.hillsboro-oregon.gov/Home/Components/News/News/14961/1718?date=20190814120000#:~:text=With%20the%20specialized%20equipment%20and,Tap%20to%20unmute…