Earl Arminger was recently named Business Person of the Year by the Howard County Chamber of Commerce. I can't think of a more worthy recipient. For those who think that developers are the root cause of all problems in Howard County, perhaps they should read this story from the Sun last week.
Congratulations Earl!
Daily
18 hours ago
4 comments:
I hate to kind of burst your bubble. But, Earl Armiger also has a reputation for not complying with the approval conditions attached to his projects. The City of Laurel is still having problems with the assisted living facility he developed on Main Street. And, his son has a habit of screaming at municipal workers if he doesn;t get his way.
Beyond that, I have a hard time saluting someone who gets filthy rich off of tax-subsidized projects, which many of his projects are. How the government can use tax dollars to float developers' projects and enrich them is completely contrary to a free market society, which this Country is supposed to be. I certainly wish the government would send some tax moeny my way and make me a millionaire.
The benefits of tax subsidized development projects are the low-income populations, not the developers or the financiers. Tax credits simply sweeten the pot to allow projects that are of higher social value, but lower market value, to be completed. The developers and financiers end up getting a market rate return. Whether this is a good use of tax dollars is a judgment call, but no one is gaining above average returns off of tax credit financed projects.
There are many market driven things that can be done to increase the supply of affordable housing, most of which involve a reduction government regulations around zoning.
I'm mostly in favor of changes to zoning laws to stimulate these developments. But, tax payer dollars should not be used to bolster a private business person's profit. If they are involved in work that isn't profitable, then they shouldn't be doing that work. If my "business" work fails, I'm not going to get a payout from the government, and neither should any other business person.
Companies have been making millions of dollars doing good and bad work for government agencies since 1776. Why is the work Earl's company is doing a bad thing?
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