On 24/12/10 1:22 AM, William Allen Simpson wrote:
In an unrelated Michigan case, where a large business signed a written contract (to expand) in exchange for tax abatement (but didn't expand), the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the contract was mere "fluff and hyperbole" required to obtain tax breaks and government favors.
Moral of the story, municipalities need to write the contract so that they get their tax abatement only AFTER they have completed the agreed-upon expansion. No tax abatement now, promised expansion later "fluff and hyperbole". But even better, they need to stop writing monopoly contracts. It was a good idea 100/40 years ago, to get the first company to put in the first telephone/cable network. It is no longer working to serve citizen needs to keep giving monopoly contracts. jc