A Shiny New Lure... Will Our Town Take the Bait?
- Mike Clifford
- Oct 10, 2019
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 6, 2020
Former Town Council President John Beauregard appeared before the Town Council at its September 30th meeting when the Tax Stabilization and Development agreements for Green Development’s commercial scale solar project were on the council agenda. Mr. Beauregard, who is no longer an elected official, informed the town council that he had brokered a deal with
his longtime acquaintance, Mark DePasquale, the owner of Green Development. The “deal” Mr. Beauregard tried to sell to the council calls for the developer to build a concession stand with bathrooms at the football field instead of making a promised, one-time upfront cash payment to the town. That one- time payment was originally estimated by Mr. Beauregard’s developer friend to be $287,500 but unfortunately, the amount of the one-time payment has now dwindled down to $192,000. All other revenues the town was originally projected to receive from DePasquale’s solar project will be drastically reduced as well. When the solar array was under consideration last year Mr. Beauregard flaunted those inflated numbers to entice support for the project. Now Mr. Beauregard claims that his latest deal comes at no cost to taxpayers. I disagree with his claim and seriously question the appropriateness of John Beauregard’s actions.
I believe it’s wholly inappropriate for Mr. Beauregard to be involved in this project in any manner. At the 9/30/2019 Town Council meeting Mr. Beauregard stated that he has known developer DePasquale for many years, well before he began to serve on the town council. Mr. Beauregard’s hard push to fast track approval of the solar overlay district while he served as council president always concerned me. I perceived an obvious favorable bias towards developer DePasquale and Green Development’s representatives by former council president Beauregard during the public hearings on this project. When I spoke and protested the fact that Mr. Beauregard was giving the developer’s representatives far more time to speak than residents were being given, the former council president responded by telling me: “You’re lucky I even let you speak at all”.
“You’re lucky I even let you speak at all.” - John Beauregard to Resident Mike Clifford
Mr. Beauregard’s most recent presentation to the town council attempted to portray the developer as a generous philanthropist and benefactor to the town, but the plain fact is, like all developers, the owners of Green Development are in business to make the most money possible, while keeping costs as low as possible. In his promotional pitch of the concession stand deal, John Beauregard employed a tactic often practiced by public relations professional: deflect attention away from the negatives. When Mr. Beauregard began to speak, the conversation quickly turned from a discussion of language in the proposed agreements which could short change the town financially, into a discussion of a great side deal for the town.
This deal is no gift; it will come at a cost. It’s easy to get short changed and badly burned when engaging in the barter system; an avenue which Mr. Beauregard apparently favors. The town’s interests would be best served by dealing strictly in cash. More than $12 million dollars is needed to address our failed and badly neglected roads, along with tens of millions of dollars more which is needed to address repairs and improvements of school and town infrastructure. Personally, I don’t understand how Mr. Beauregard, a former elected town official who is aware of the town’s infrastructure needs, can consider a concession stand a top priority in light of the many other costly projects needed by the town.
After attending many council meetings during his two year term as council president, and witnessing behavior I believe was inappropriate for a public official, I am not a fan of Mr. Beauregard. For many reasons, it’s my opinion the former town councilman has absolutely no business attempting to broker any deals with any developer on behalf of the town, particularly a developer who is a longtime acquaintance.
Regarding the financial aspects of Mr. Beauregard’s new deal, I consider the concession stand package to be nothing more than new “bait” being dangled in front of town officials in an attempt to garner support for an agreement … even a poor agreement which fails to adequately protect the town and offers much smaller payments to the town than originally discussed. Mr. Beauregard’s developer friend has voiced opposition to the town’s insistence that the agreements include language allowing the town to change the assessed value of the land his solar array would be built on. Some Rhode Island towns are already in the process of re-assessing the value of land on which solar arrays are built. Those towns will collect millions more in tax dollars on the land if they are successful in doing so. The town of Exeter, where DePasquale is building another solar array, is involved in litigation over the matter. Exeter’s town officials realized they would reap far more revenue by taxing the land at a higher value, rather than accepting payment incentives from solar developers.
Increased tax revenue from similar properties in our town would result in a very substantial increase in our town’s tax revenue. In North Smithfield, under the proposed land leases the developer stated he would pay $31 million in lease payments to the landowner over 25 years. Any land producing that incredible amount of lease income should not be assessed and taxed at the same per acre rate as undeveloped fields and forests. Its $31 million lease income makes it far more valuable.
In a previous post I wrote about several other significant revenue and expense issues regarding this project. For those who haven’t already read it, here’s a link: https://bit.ly/2IqRUNS . The financial issues discussed in the previous post could potentially cost the town over a million dollars.
Forfeiting the right to collect additional tax revenue for the land and facing the previously discussed financial impacts, most certainly do represent a cost to taxpayers. Final agreements on this deal must include explicit and clear language regarding the town’s rights to re-assess and re-classify the land which this solar development is to be built on. Without ironclad language in these agreements regarding the tax issue, the town will find itself battling it out in court, right beside the Town of Exeter. Let’s keep the focus on the important issues in these agreements which safeguard the town’s interest and not muddy the waters with any side deals.
*Developer DePasquale certainly appears to be well connected politically (see article: https://bit.ly/33aDE42 ).
***These agreements need approval by the Town Council before construction of the solar array (which will cover 180 acres with solar panels) can move forward.
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