Taking a Stand

By Andy Meisner, Oakland County Treasurer
Friday, January 15, 2009

As you may have noticed, I have been in the news recently promoting my proposal for an Oakland County Land Bank to protect property values and prevent further harm from foreclosures.

Unfortunately, I have so far been unable to get the support of Brooks Patterson, who continues to spread misinformation about an issue he seems not to understand.

The following message was my attempt to correct the record. Click on the link below to see videos on this subject on the Oakland Press website.

Gentleman:

Thank you for the opportunity to participate in the OP online video series. I had the chance to view Brooks' video and need to do some important fact-checking.

#1 False Assertion: "We have not seen a business plan."

Truth: In April of 2009, I submitted to Brooks and his team a "strategic plan" including all of the elements Brooks claims he doesn't have. If he would like me to rename it as a "business plan" instead of "strategic plan," I will do that.

You have a copy of this document, so you know that it includes a budget, timeline, operating procedures, scope of work, governance structure and statutory authority for starting a land bank. It also gave him control over the board of directors, and proposes doing all of this with no additional staff.

I have a copy of the email sent in April to prove this claim.

#2 False Assertion: "Andy wants us to buy the K-Mart property for $17 million."

Truth: In addition to fighting residential foreclosures, land banks are an important economic development tool for stimulating our devastated commercial and industrial real estate markets.

To encourage redevelopment and eventual tax productivity of idle properties, some land banks enter into "Master Development Agreements" or "Land Bank Agreements" whereby the owner of an idle commercial property deeds the property to the land bank FOR A NOMINAL AMOUNT -- one dollar, not $17 million!

The owner does this to take advantage of land bank incentives, like automatic eligibility for Brownfield Redevelopment and temporary tax exemption to limit their investment to capital improvement. Once the development is done, within one to two years at most, the land bank sells back the property and is compensated for its expenses.

This removes barriers that make doing these deals under current market conditions impossible. Foregone short term tax revenue is replaced with LONG TERM tax revenue and market stabilization, as well as spillover benefits of the project getting done, i.e. no drag on property values, blight, abandonment issues.

#3 False Assertion: "The Community and Home Improvement Department does all that a land bank can do."

Truth: Community and Home Improvement is a good department that does good work, and yes, some of what they do could be done by the land bank. That said, Community and Home Improvement can not automatically make a parcel brownfield eligible, nor can it clear title to properties on a speedier basis. Their important work will be complemented by a land bank if we were simply allowed to work together.

If this department, however, is so great, why didn't they get the $20 million grant they just applied for? Because their submission did not demonstrate collaboration, nor did their submission demonstrate involvement with a land bank, both things Secretary Donovan told me personally would have increased their chances for getting the grant. Let us never repeat this costly mistake.

#4 False Assertion: "An Oakland County Land Bank is toy for Andy to play with."

Truth: The only one playing around here is Mr. Patterson. He's playing fast and loose with the facts about land banks, while our beloved County is losing almost half of its property value.

This is not a game. This is a serious proposal to deal with the foreclosure problem that we can start with not one penny of county money.

#5 False Assertion: "(With regards to this grant and issue) Andy doesn't know what he's talking about."

Truth: Andy worked on Capitol Hill for two Congressman and his responsibilities included GRANT COORDINATION ON BEHALF OF OAKLAND COUNTY. Andy's staff work helped Oakland County REHABILITATE ITS FAILED GRANT APPLICATION FOR $22 MILLION IN LAW ENFORCEMENT FUNDING, EVENTUALLY SUCCEEDING IN GETTING THAT GRANT.

That's how every police car in Oakland got a new laptop, and how our fantastic CLEMIS system was able to keep pace with hardware and software updates.

Andy understands how to read between the lines of federal requests for proposals/notice of funds available to see what the agency is looking for. While the NSP 2 application doesn't require land bank collaboration, THERE'S A REASON LAND BANKS ARE MENTIONED REPEATEDLY, AND ITS NOT JUST FOR THEIR HEALTH.

Mr. Patterson, who I genuinely like and respect, is either misinformed or intentionally misleading people about my proposal, neither of which is acceptable for a leader of his great stature during an enormous crisis of this magnitude.

Respectfully,
Andy Meisner

P.S. Click here to see Andy's video with the Oakland Press.