American Dream

Wilder wants to cut tax breaks
But a developer says the programs allowed the city to revitalize

BY DAVID RESS
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Jul 1, 2005

Quotes:

Mayor L. Douglas Wilder wants to crack down on tax breaks for developers he believes have cost the city millions of dollars it can no longer afford.

Wilder is asking City Council and the state Department of Housing and Community Development to cut the number of years a developer gets a property tax break and to tighten the rules for granting tax breaks on rehabilitated homes.

He also wants to stop a practice that lets developers get an abatement for large new buildings when they add on to existing structures, which resulted in huge tax breaks for the First Market Bank headquarters building in Shockoe Bottom and the $90 million Riverside on the James project on Brown's Island, among others.

"Maybe it's a loophole or a misunderstanding. Certainly, developers have taken advantage of the law as it is written," city spokesman Bill Farrar said yesterday. "We feel this is not in keeping with the spirit of the program."