On Tuesday, the San Juan School District board met in Montezuma Creek and once again discussed two Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) proposals.
Board member Steven Black presented an eight-page position paper that argued the school district would not benefit from either CRA proposal, both of which are meant to incentive hotel developments in the county.
Black concluded that if there is a demand for more hotels, developers will build them with or without tax deferments from the school district.
“If a new hotel is feasible, […] then a hotel will be built, by someone, and the school district will still be able to receive the revenue that the CRA proposals are asking the school district to forego,” he wrote.
“It is not appropriate to utilize taxes earmarked to educate our children for minimizing the risk of the projects or for providing leverage for investors,” Black concluded.
Later in the meeting, the school board unanimously voted against approving either CRA.
The decision puts an end to a year-long debate over whether or not to defer $450,000 in taxes from Bluff Dwellings Resort, a 54-room project currently under development in Bluff’s Cow Canyon. It also rejects a proposal from Utah Rep. Phil Lyman and his partners, which sought tax incentives to develop a Marriott at the north entrance to Blanding.
— More about the details about the CRA proposals can be found here.
Canyon Echo 