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Candidate warns RDAs and CDAs can favor big developers and erode local tax revenue

Stand for Orem (podcast/interview) · October 26, 2025

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Summary

Crystal Muellstein said redevelopment (RDA) and community development (CDA) incentives can pick winners and losers, and she cited Vineyard's RDA as likely to divert money from local schools.

Crystal Muellstein said redevelopment and community development agency agreements can favor larger developers at the expense of small businesses and local tax revenue.

“In my opinion, RDAs and CDAs inherently pick winners and losers in business,” Muellstein said. She pointed to University Place, saying the RDA benefits the property owner rather than individual store owners. She warned that an RDA tied to Vineyard could funnel “millions and millions and millions of dollars” away from Alpine School District and the new local school district, though she did not provide precise financial figures during the interview.

Muellstein said Orem no longer needs aggressive tax incentives to attract businesses and urged city officials to require clear, demonstrable community benefit before deploying RDAs or CDAs. “There has to be a real genuine need and a very clear cut benefit,” she said. “It has to be a win-win situation for the community as well as the business.”