Taxation, representation limited in Ridgefield?

So the other 6.7 billion of you may be scraping through the results from the Philadelphia collar counties, but as we settle in tonight, I'll be checking on my favorite local ballot issue, Ridgefield's proposed transportation benefit district.

As Isolde Raftery reported last month, Ridgefield would be among the first cities in the state to take advantage of this obscure provision for raising highway funds.

Here's how it works: 81 people are living there right now, pre-development. They get to vote on a sales tax hike that ... will make it easier for their homes to be bought by developers.

Pretty sweet deal for the developers, for current property owners in the area, and for future property owners in the rest of Ridgefield, who'll get to share their tax base with lots of new sales taxes.

Less sweet for the folks who'll be paying most of those new taxes -- but hey, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

michael.andersen@columbian.com