Rolling Back Property Tax Payments
A new report from Good Jobs First exposes one of Wal-Mart’s most deceptive cost-cutting policies: consistent attempts to pay low taxes on its properties. By denying local communities their rightful dues, Wal-Mart sucks money away from public schools, local services and civic development. From GJF’s release:
The first-ever investigation of Wal-Mart’s local property tax records finds that the retail giant systematically seeks to minimize its payment of taxes that support public schools and other vital government services. That is the key finding of Rolling Back Property Tax Payments, a report released today by Good Jobs First, a non-profit, nonpartisan research center in Washington, DC. The full text is at http://www.goodjobsfirst.org.
“Wal-Mart, a company with $350 billion in annual revenues and $11 billion in profits, drains vitally needed funds from communities by regularly challenging the valuation put on its properties by public officials,” said Philip Mattera, research director of Good Jobs First and principal author of the report. “When the company succeeds in one of these challenges, it diminishes the funds available to pay for education, police and fire protection, and other essential services provided by local governments.”
Based on a large national sample of Wal-Mart stores and a review of all of its distribution centers open as of the beginning of 2005, Good Jobs First concludes that Wal-Mart has filed assessment challenges at more than one-third of its facilities around the country. At many facilities there have been appeals in multiple years. Overall, Good Jobs First estimates that the company has filed more than 2,100 property tax challenges nationwide.
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Posted by Media Team on Wednesday, October 10 | 6 comments | Permalink
New York Site Fight Stalls Vote
Until next vote, Wal-mart halted [Pipe Dream (NY)]
A decision which would issue a special construction permit for a new Wal-Mart in Johnson City — the second in the area — is set to be made one week from today.
Village board members will vote on whether to issue a necessary permit that would sanction the construction of a retail building in an industrial area.
The vote was rescheduled for next Tuesday after Johnson City Mayor Harry Lewis decided to allow board members more time to further scrutinize a study of how the plans would impact the area’s water.
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Posted by Andrew Yonki on Tuesday, October 09 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Class Action Plaintiffs Get a Little Help From Their Friends
Wal-Mart is currently involved in multiple lawsuits across the country, and this story from the Kansas City Star shows how they’re all connected.
Philadelphia verdict against Wal-Mart good for KC plaintiffs [Kansas City Star (Mo.)]
A Philadelphia judge’s award of an additional $62 million to Wal-Mart workers was more good news for plaintiffs in similar actions against the company in the Kansas City area.
The award last week by Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Mark Bernstein came atop a $78.5 million verdict last year in a case alleging that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. forced workers to work through rest and meal breaks.
Although Bernstein awarded the additional money under Pennsylvania’s wage payment and collection law, Kansas — where an analogous “off the clock” suit against Wal-Mart is pending in Wyandotte County — has a comparable law.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, October 09 | 0 comments | Permalink
Johnson City, NY. Wal-Mart Won’t Help Economy, Residents
Wal-Mart won’t help economy, residents [Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin]
Johnson City does not need a Wal-Mart. We have plenty of low-paying retail jobs in this area, and more on the way in Johnson City, which does not help our local economy. This only helps Wal-Mart.
Furthermore, the site of the proposed Wal-Mart in JC is surrounded by two-lane roads in mainly residential areas. Those streets cannot handle additional traffic to accommodate Wal-Mart traffic. The traffic is bad enough on those streets already, especially late in the afternoon.
Wal-Mart is China’s eighth-largest importer! Does buying goods made in China help the local and national economies? No. Where does the food that Wal-Mart sells come from? I bet not from local farms. We already have a Wal-Mart in Vestal. Isn’t that enough?
Posted by Corey Himrod on Monday, October 08 | 0 comments | Permalink
Harrisburg, PA. Zoning Rule Would Help Wal-Mart, Group Says
Zoning rule change would help Wal-Mart, group says [Harrisburg Patriot-News]
Proposed changes to Carroll Twp.’s zoning ordinance pit township officials, who call them “a cleanup,” against a citizens group that calls them “mind-boggling.”
Most of the changes that will be discussed at Monday night’s public hearing deal with specific properties. But one potential change, closing what township officials call a “loophole” in the setback ordinance involving retention ponds and access roads, has drawn the ire of Carroll Citizens for Sensible Growth.
The group says the change is being made to accommodate plans for a Wal-Mart in the South Mountain Commons in the northern York County community.
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Posted by Corey Himrod on Monday, October 08 | 0 comments | Permalink
North Huntingdon, PA. Wal-Mart Determined to Build
Wal-Mart determined to build in North Huntingdon [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
Wal-Mart will become a reality in North Huntingdon, a corporate spokesman for the Arkansas-based retailer says.
A 200,000-square-foot Wal-Mart superstore is planned to anchor the proposed Mills Pointe-Huntingdon Marketplace, a retail commercial complex on Route 30 near the Irwin interchange of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Rights-of-way and easement issues associated with a proposed relocation of a 1,500-foot section of Barnes Lake Road have stalled the project for nearly eight months.
PennDOT last month restored the part of Barnes Lake Road that had been ripped out to its original location. The busy two-lane traffic artery was supposed to be relocated to create a main access to Mills Pointe from Route 30.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Friday, October 05 | 0 comments | Permalink
Bennington, VT. Developer Misses Environmental Deadline
Wal-Mart developer misses court deadline [Rutland Herald (VT)]
A developer who plans to expand the town’s Wal-Mart missed a deadline set by the Vermont Environmental Court on Monday but still plans to move forward with the new 112,000-square-foot store.
During a status conference in June in Barre, the Vermont Environmental Court agreed to let Ohio developer Jonathon Levy file for an Act 250 permit by Oct. 1 after Levy’s company missed a similar deadline on May 21. This time, the court warned that if the application wasn’t filed, it may schedule other appeals.
It has been almost two years since Bennington’s Development Review Board issued permits that would allow Levy, who owns the shopping center on Northside Drive in Bennington where Wal-Mart and Price Chopper are located, to replace the Wal-Mart. The permit would allow Levy to tear down the Wal-Mart and build one more than twice the size on the same basic location.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, October 02 | 0 comments | Permalink
Johnson City, NY. Board to Meet
Johnson City board to meet on Wal-Mart plan [Press & Sun Bulletin (NY)]
The village board will again take its regular meeting to the spacious Johnson City courtroom tonight, in anticipation of another packed house to hear the board decide an aspect of a controversial proposed Wal-Mart project.
During the meeting, scheduled for 7:30 in the courtroom of the George Korutz Justice Building, 31 Avenue C, the board will decide whether to issue a special permit to allow developers to operate a retail store in an industrial zone.
Vestal-based Newman Development Group is planning to build a 132,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter and a 14,000-square-foot yet-to-be-named retail store on a vacant brownfield at 14 Lester Ave., the former Endicott Johnson Ranger Powercord site.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, October 02 | 0 comments | Permalink
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