Photo from June of drainage issues at the fairgrounds
Two public hearings are coming up at the next Jefferson City Council meeting that is looking to potentially do several projects.
City Administrator Scott Peterson says the first public hearing is about expanding the Urban Renewal Area that would allow for ten total projects to utilize tax increment financing (TIF). He tells Raccoon Valley Radio, the three main areas that the Council will consider are the former middle school property, as well as the rest of that block to the south (excluding the property owned by The Children’s Center); the area along East Lincoln Way, which includes the drainage issues around the fairgrounds; and the Greenewood Community Center to possibly renovated into a new clubhouse.
Peterson explains that the TIF projects for that expansion are not a done deal.
“What we’re really doing is planning for some potential projects to occur in the future. Anytime that you would expand TIF, it needs to be for a project that’s identified in the Urban Renewal Plan. This is a way to get all of those potential identified in the plan and this does propose these ten projects for which we could utilize tax increment financing.”
Peterson notes the other separate public hearing is about creating a blight district within the Urban Renewal Area, which includes the former middle school and the vacant blocks to the east where the power plant was located. He talks about adding the former middle school property that is planned to be converted into apartments, as part of the Urban Renewal Area, which would lead to a sizable forgivable loan through TIF and the city’s standard ten year tax abatement for multifamily residential properties.
“So you think about that, for the next ten years the taxes are largely abated on that (middle) school property. But we’re also establishing this TIF district to be able to collect incremental taxes. Just a very long term way to think about this because the vast lion’s share of the TIF taxes would not become available then basically until year 11 after the abatement has already run its course.”
Both public hearings are set to take place at the upcoming city council meeting on June 10th at 5:30pm at the City Hall Council Chambers. Peterson adds that when the city generates TIF, they are also using a portion of property taxes from Greene County and the Greene County School District. He says the city has historically asked for $1.5 million of TIF annually for projects, which is not the maximum, and he anticipates that remaining to be the same in the future. Click on the link below to see the locations on maps, as well as the descriptions of the proposed projects.