Will Downtown Property Owners Pay for Public Square Improvements?
Vol. III, No. 141 - It appears that downtown property assessments haven't been ruled out to pay for the Public Square
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Watching decisions get made at City Hall can feel like watching two different clocks tick at once. Sometimes things happen fast and furious, sometimes they seem to drag on forever. Right now, this mix of quick moves and slow stretches is playing out in downtown Troy as city leaders debate what’s next for Prouty Plaza.
Earlier this summer, City Council and the community had a long debate about adding a water feature to Prouty Plaza as part of a bigger project to upgrade the entire Public Square; an improvement that was eventually voted down. Generally, there’s a lot of agreement about what upgrades to the Public Square should look like, but less agreement about who will pay for it. A simple idea starts to look complicated once you start figuring out how it will be paid for.
During the debate, Councilmember Susan Westfall sent an email to the city’s Public Service and Safety Director. She had big questions about how property assessments might work for these improvements. When the topic came up again at a recent council meeting, Westfall mentioned her email and this newsletter made a public records request for that email and any response from City Hall. What the city sent was a copy of Westfall’s email, listing seventeen pointed questions about how sidewalk assessments were being considered downtown.
Councilmember Westfall didn’t simply come up with these questions out of the blue. When she was canvassing downtown business owners about their thoughts on the Prouty Plaza water feature, the topic of assessments came up. She sent questions to the City’s Service and Safety Director searching for, in her words, “clarity, fairness and transparency from the City.”
The way Westfall pressed for details makes it clear she does not want downtown building owners to be blindsided by extra property tax bills. The city’s officials, if they want to pitch such an idea, had better be ready to respond with facts and fairness.
Here’s where the story gets fascinating, and maybe even a bit frustrating. Westfall’s email was sent back in late July. There are seventeen questions on the table and, after almost three months, none of them appear to have a clear answer. When asked about the status of answering these questions at the latest council meeting, the Public Service and Safety Director said he was still working on answers.
These questions are not small. Westfall wanted to know why the city suddenly seems to be shifting sidewalk assessment costs to downtown property owners when previous projects didn’t ask for the same. She raised concerns about fairness, the burden on businesses already hit by years of construction and the pandemic, and wanted to know whether property owners who recently paid to repair their sidewalks would have to pay again. She also asked about the appeals process, transparency in costs, and whether some sort of economic impact study has been done. Each question digs a little deeper into the kind of careful, consistent governance citizens deserve.
Yet three months have passed with no answers. If roles were reversed and the city administration wanted council to approve a sidewalk assessment plan, there’s little chance the council would be given three months to think it over. More likely, there’d be a rush to decide, maybe in a less-attended committee meeting, followed by a council vote with the three reading rule suspended; with the first public notification to a council vote all happening with about ten days. That’s how many things get done. Quick action is the norm, not the exception. Deliberations only happen when council members slow down the process and force a wider conversation.
This whole situation highlights why paying attention matters. It’s very easy for city government to slide a new cost onto downtown owners, just when those businesses are finally starting to recover after tough years of construction and closures. Nobody wants another setback, especially at a time when some of Troy’s most iconic downtown buildings are sitting empty and businesses are just getting back on their feet.
Fairness should be a top priority. Consider this: The massive West Main Street reconstruction cost taxpayers more than $15 million, yet no property assessments were taken from local owners along that corridor. Now, for improvements that will benefit the entire community, downtown property owners may be asked to pay extra—not for something they asked for, but for something that’s meant for everyone.
To be clear, no decision has been made yet about charging downtown owners a property tax assessment for the public square upgrade. But after months of silence on key questions, the only thing clear right now is that the answer on whether assessments will be charged or not isn’t “no.” That answer could have been provided months ago.
There’s still time for city officials to provide answers and communicate openly. That’s the kind of leadership Troy needs, and that’s the reason citizens should keep watching every move made at City Hall.
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If I understand this correctly, downtown property owners could be faced with a potential assessment, not the business who may occupy, I.e. rent the space. Unless, they are one and the same. Correct? Of course, ultimately, downtown property owners may try to recoup this extra cost thru rent increases?