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heraldsun.com: printer-friendly story while bypassing voters." ao Adams and David Mills, executive director of the Common Sense Foundation in Raleigh, said the amendment's supporters are using slick advertising and misleading information to sway voters, They point in particular to the name "self-financing bonds," which was given to the proposal by such boosters as the N,C. League of Municipalities and several former governors, "They make it sound like that through magic or pixie dust or elves, these projects actually pay for themselves. That's not true," Mills said. In addition, the opponents say the "but for" argument -- that companies wouldn't locate in North Cazolina "but for" the incentives -- is a fallacy. North Carolina doesn't need to give away tax revenues to lure,jobs, they say. But Bill Kalkhof; who recruits business to downtown as president of Downtown Durham Inc,, disagrees. He said American Tobacco, for example, would have never been completed if the city and county hadn't chipped in, "The cost of development in a downtown area is extremely high," Kalkhof said, "It's a lot simpler for developers to go out on green acres and whack the trees down and go to work, So if you want to have as a community policy a revitalized downtown, a revitalized North-East Central Durham, we need to have this tool to compete." Kalkhof said the 10-acre University Ford car dealership near American Tobacco would likely be ripe for redevelopment one day. But it probably wouldn't occur without substantial improvements to streets, landscaping and utilities, he said.. Local government could use tax-increment financing to pay up front for those improvements, and more than cover the debt payments using the new tax revenue. He estimated that the redeveloped site could be worth as much as $80 million, producing about $1.1 million a year in city and county property taxes, compared to a current value of $.3.6 million, which generates about $50,000 in taxes. Kalkhof and others acknowledged that local governments already have options for taking on debt without voter approval, including those used in the American Tobacco project and for the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. But "Amendment One" would streamline the process and allow cities and counties to respond more quickly to the private sector, they say. Supporters also point to die safeguards that the measure would provide, The special tax districts couldn't make up more than 5 percent of a city or county, ensuring that it would be used selectively, they say, and the state's Local Government Commission would have to sign off on all projects.. The state's voters defeated similar tax-increment proposals in 1982 and again in 1993. But this year, supporters have rallied behind the referendum, which won easy approval from the General Assembly last year and earned widespread support among local leaders. "Personally, I support it. I think it's another creative revenue tool for municipalities," said City Councilwoman Diane Catotti, who has expressed concern in the past about economic incentives. "I think it could be advantageous and could be used in targeted areas where you want to see economic development." http://www.heraldsun.com/tools/printfriendly,cfm?StoryID=5.32241 10/1.3/2004