Can Tax Incremental Districts Make Wisconsin Dells A Year Round Tourist Destination

Being a small rural summer resort community the Wisconsin Dells area store front operators remain open up to the point at which - additional days of operation are just not worth the cost.   The store front operators then close down for the off season - preserving their business modals resources.

The City of Wisconsin Dells and Village of Lake Delton acting administration have chronically used tax incremental districts to divert publicly collected money from being used for the needs of the residents - to create local financial incentives that try to get store front operators to stay open - even after it is just not worth the cost.

This incentivizes Wisconsin Dells area store front operators to travel on a path that is just not economically viable - and is making costs paid by visiting families rise.   For years publicly collected money has been selectively dispersed to chosen store front operators for building improvements with an expectation that the business will appear open year round.

This chronic use of tax incremental districts to create financial incentives has altered the primary function of store front operators across the Wisconsin Dells area.  The primary function of todays Wisconsin Dells area store front operator is to think up new and different ways to receive locally collected incentive money and public property - rather than thinking up new and different ways to create value for the visiting families.