The Denver Post
January 22, 2010, Andy Vuong

Cities and developers are misusing a tax incentive designed to spur the restoration of blighted urban areas, diverting hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue from schools and counties, critics claim. The tax incentive is the linchpin of a state law that aims to help redevelop struggling urban areas such as Denver's old Stapleton Airport or the old Villa Italia mall in Lakewood. It allows cities to create urban-renewal districts and use any incremental increases in property taxes to help offset development costs. But state and county officials say the law is being abused as cities use urban-renewal authorities to finance new developments on vacant farmland. Citing three projects, they claim schools, counties and other local taxing districts have unfairly lost more than $700 million in future tax revenue. ...

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_14243393