Mack Clifton

"Since I have not received any major donations, I cannot answer this question affirmatively or negatively because it does not apply to me."

Shelia Dixon

"Requests for public incentives must stand on their own and have no connection to contributions to any elected official that is involved in reviewing a project. We must depoliticize the process, which starts with an objective review of any request We can do more to open the process to the public and media, which is right to scrutinize every aspect. Public Private Partnerships have been an important tool to retain and attract jobs and grow the tax base, but in a city with many needs to address, we must be able to make the case that downtown and neighborhood development are mutually supporting.

• Routinely Reevaluate the Need for Tax Breaks. Incentive programs as a whole should be periodically reevaluated to determine the need for more or less incentives based on improving or declining conditions.
• Perform Cost-Benefit Analysis. Perform impact studies to assess the full impact of a project to the city, both financial and otherwise, in order to determine the needs and the related costs that it generates to the city by adding police, fire and other services.
• Share in the Upside of a Project with Profit Sharing. All public private partnership projects should include a provision for profit sharing which would allow the city to get a return on its investment. Proceeds from profit sharing will be used to invest in city Main Streets.
• Expand TIFs to Include Investments in Community Amenities. Expand the use of Tax Increment Financing (TIFs) to build parks, playgrounds and schools, and to clean up contaminated sites in neighborhoods.
• Uphold our Legal Affordable Housing Requirement. As Mayor, I worked with the City Council in 2007 to adopt the first of its kind legislation requiring developers receiving city incentives to set aside up to 20 percent of their residential units as affordable. The law aimed to end the practice of allowing city financial incentives to perpetuate economically segregated housing. The city should enforce the law or amend it to ensure that its original intent is met.
• Work With the Legislature to Fix the “Wealth Formula” Penalty. The city should not be penalized financially by the State for investing in public-private partnerships that artificially expand the city’s assessable base."

Elizabeth Embry

"Tax increment financing and payments in lieu of taxes for development projects are among the most powerful tools available to a mayor to attract business and promote needed development.
As Mayor, Elizabeth will not toss aside these tools, and certainly not with tax rates at their current levels and the budget environment in its present constrained state. But no one should expect to receive a TIF or PILOT as a matter of course, and the city should be using them strategically rather than as a private financing tool. Elizabeth will launch a five-part plan to strengthen the use of these scarce city resources, including through:

1. Using them for the public benefit. Strengthen local hiring requirements for TIFs and PILOTs and expand their use in neighborhoods outside of the downtown area.
2. Greater transparency. More public disclosure, including dissemination online and elsewhere the terms of the deals before a vote, as well as annual reports on the status of the deals.
3. Stronger accountability. Improved accountability, including through an independent advisory body, expanded monitoring of TIF and PILOT performance, and the enforcement of greater compliance with reporting requirements.
4. A fair share of benefits. The strengthening of the use of profit sharing and similar agreements to ensure the city benefits when a project succeeds.
5. No harm to schools. Work with the State to ensure the city is not unfairly punished in state funding formulas for its use of these development tools, and in the interim, hold the school budget harmless for the impact of the formula.
   
   

With these protections in place, I would not disqualify any person or firm, in any neighborhood, from receiving a TIF or PILOT. However, transparency will be essential throughout to give the
residents every assurance that there is no appearance or reality of impropriety. In fact, I have proposed an extensive ethics and transparency blueprint, many of the provisions of which will
provide extra such assurances. The blueprint can be found on my website at www.embryforbaltimore.org."

Nick Mosby

"I believe that pay-to-play donations are a systemic flaw in our political environment, and will require all businesses- no matter their donations- to meet the same stringent standard of transparency and public comment on potential incentives that my administration will require for all major development incentives." 

Carl Stokes

"No. In fact, I have received no donations from large developers – early in the campaign I met with several large developers and they said I was too “community” oriented and that they would not give me any contributions. They have not. I’m sure I have received donations from smaller developers and businesses that may approach me for public funding and as long as the project is located in the neighborhood, the outer harbor, I will consider their request."

David Warnock

"No. While every other major candidate is accepting tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from major real estate developers who stand to benefit from TIFs, PILOTs and other tax breaks, my campaign is supported by more than 800 people who believe that Baltimore needs new leadership, and a new direction – not more of the same bought-and-sold politicians of the past. When I’m mayor, I won’t owe anyone except the citizens of Baltimore."