City Hall block best place for new businesses

I was very surprised by Mayor John Muhlfeld’s letter (Pilot, Oct. 7) suggesting that Whitefish citizens spend more in town and not in Kalispell, etc.

Maybe we are not the problem. Admittedly more and more interesting stores are opening north of Kalispell and while we check out a new store, we may have purchased something that was available in Whitefish.

How about some different ideas/solutions as to why the 3 percent resort tax receipts dropped in July and what can be done.

For the last 10 years I have driven Central Avenue once or twice each day from July 1 to Aug. 31 and counted Alberta license plates. I would estimate that Alberta traffic has dropped off 30 percent compared to the same period last year. That may count for all of the tax revenue drop. Until the Canadaian dollar gets stronger, tax receipts will remain below 2014.

What Whitefish needs is new businesses in town, and the best place to add new businesses is the half block the city is building a new City Hall and parking structure on.

I estimate that 15 new buildings would pay $3,000 to $5,000 per year in property tax revenue — that’s $45,000 to $75,000 every year. The city is tying that property up for 100 years. It will throw away $4.5 million to $7.5 million over that time period.

Mr. Mayor, please correct this multi-million dollar error while you still have time. Councilman Sweeney and councilman Hildner are both up for re-election.

There is a better use of that city block than a gargantuan building, which can easily be moved out of the business district.

— Richard Atkinson, Whitefish