Swan Point Site Plan and Tax News

    I found an aerial view of the proposed swan point site plan which should give a better idea of what exactly they are planning to build out there.  Feel free to click on the photo for a larger image.

    It sounds like area residents are still concerned about the expansion (I would be too!), and now there is a little bit of a concern about the taxes.

    Last week the developer filed an application for the county's new tax increment financing (TIF) program, and the proposal goes something like this:

• The county would use public, tax-free bonds to finance roads and utilities for the Swan Point Hotel Project.
• Bonds would be repaid using the increase in property taxes coming from the site once development is completed
• Financing would cover $25.9 million, including a hotel access road & bridge, shoreline stabilization, widening of Swan Point Road, a new water tank, and a sewer upgrade
• The bond will not count against the county's borrowing power, and has no obligation to repay the bond should the developer fail to do so.

    The hotel, conference center and spa are expected to be completed within the next 2 years, and Swan Point claims that it is necessary to enable the hotel to locate in Charles County rather than another state with more tax-friendly laws.

    The Charles County commissioners will hold a public hearing at 7pm on December 11th in the auditorium of the county government building to consider the TIF application for Swan Point, and I'm sure that plenty of swan point residents will be on hand to voice their concerns.

~Jonathan Benya
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