The City Council recently held a work session to learn more about Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Districts and how they may help fund infrastructure improvements and economic development on the Business Loop.
As we move forward with the City on our Corridor Planning Study (and the related Road Safety Audit), we are finding that decades of deferred maintenance will mean that it's not simply a matter of adding a few sidewalks and planting some trees. Sewers will need rebuilding, sidewalks replaced, utilities buried, stormwater management gardens added, and more. Preliminary estimates range from $25 to $45 million.
We are working with the City to identify funding sources for an eventual capital improvement project including federal and state grants and TIF funding.
A TIF is a way to incentivize public and private development and direct it towards a community-based plan of action. So for instance, if the current planning process recommends wider sidewalks and crosswalks with audible signals, the TIF would prioritize that. Likewise, if the community is asking for more affordable housing or more restaurant space (for CoMo Cooks graduates!), then those projects would be prioritized.
A TIF is not an added tax or an increase in tax rate. So property owners won't see an increase on their tax statements and customers won't pay more in sales tax.
Instead, it is a way to invest future tax revenue in important projects. Imagine a vacant lot generating no sales tax revenue and limited property tax revenue. Building retail and restaurant space on that lot would increase both. That new tax revenue helps pay for the construction--as well as for the sidewalk, utilities, trees, and other amenities on the public space surrounding that lot.
And again, property owners would not see an increase in their tax payments as a result of this and customers wouldn't pay additional sales tax as a result.
Generally speaking, the TIF District would encompass the Business Loop but the specific boundaries are still in flux. Why? Because the boundaries are determined by the community's plan of action. (And as a reminder, the larger Corridor Plan area runs along Business Loop from Stadium to Eastland Circle.) The City has proposed though that this district be one focused on the commercial area along The Loop, not in the neighborhoods.
We're all in the information gathering stage at this point and City Council has asked staff for some additional information. We will make sure to keep everyone posted on their progress.
