Tag: Greenbelt

After a Decade of Deliberation, Federal Government Chooses Maryland over Virginia as New FBI HQ

The Center Square

The federal government has selected Greenbelt, Maryland, as the location for its new FBI headquarters concluding a search process that began more than 10 years ago.

Congress authorized the General Services Administration to start looking for a new site for the FBI headquarters in 2012 after a decade of complaints about the security, technological capabilities, “deteriorating infrastructure” and other issues with the current facility, located in Washington, D.C. The GSA narrowed its search to Greenbelt and Landover, Maryland, and Springfield, Virginia, in 2014, and state lawmakers and officials from both states have actively pursued the selection of their state throughout. 

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Commentary: The FBI HQ Relocation Proposal Is a Fraud

Admin

As of now, House Republicans have removed funds from the FY 2024 budget for the controversial $3.5 billion proposed relocation of the FBI’s Washington, D.C. headquarters to a new complex at one of three locations in the D.C. suburbs of Virginia or Maryland.

Some House Republicans want to keep the FBI headquarters at its current location and view the relocation proposal as unwise and wasteful. Others want to downsize, defund or eliminate the Bureau – and not to reward it with a sprawling new headquarters complex – because they believe it has been weaponized against conservatives.

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Audit: Controversial Greenbelt Program Misused in Johnson County

Chris Butler

A controversial tax break program, known as Greenbelt, reportedly known to help the wealthy but hurt people of more modest incomes, is the subject of an audit Tennessee Comptrollers released Thursday. State officials enacted Greenbelt laws to help Tennesseans hold on to their farms. The Greenbelt tax breaks kick in for property owners who maintain at least 15 acres of farmland, forests or open spaces. But these tax breaks are also known to hurt other people. According to the new audit, out of Johnson County, certain people who bought properties that already qualified for Greenbelt did not have to file new applications to continue that status — as Tennessee law requires. “In 38 of 110 (34%) of the parcels tested, the assessor did not require new owners of property that had been previously qualified as agricultural, forest, or designated open space at the date of sale to file a new application in a timely manner to continue the agricultural (Greenbelt) classification,” according to auditors. County assessors, auditors went on to say, must notify new owners of these properties that they cannot receive Greenbelt status unless they file an application “within 30 days of such notification together with a late fee of…

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Phil Bredesen Benefitted from Program That Forced Others to Pay Higher Taxes

Chris Butler
Phil Bredesen

Tennessee Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Bredesen spent years taking advantage of a state program that’s trimmed his property taxes by hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Tennessean reported the story this week. Bredesen got $520,600 in tax breaks on four of his Nashville-based properties since 2011, the paper reported. Bredesen’s spokeswoman Alyssa Hansen told the paper her boss has nothing to apologize for. Regardless, Bredesen has previously criticized this tax break program, commonly known as Greenbelt. Also, regardless, Bredesen reportedly tried to withdraw from Greenbelt once he learned the paper was about to publish a story about his enrollment in it. No one at Bredesen’s campaign returned The Tennessee Star’s repeated requests for comment Thursday. State officials created Greenbelt tax breaks in the 1970s to slow the spread of urban sprawl in Tennessee. Taxes are based on the property’s use value rather than its fair market value. Aimed at helping Tennesseans hold on to their farms, the Greenbelt tax breakkicks in for property owners who maintain at least 15 acres of farmland, forests or open spaces. In an emailed statement, Tennessee Republican Party Chair Scott Golden said one of Bredesen’s supposed farms for bailing hay is, in fact, a mansion —…

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