Consultant tells Fairview council: 'Urban renewal is not a tax'; briefing outlines projects, funds and limits

Elaine Howard, an urban-renewal consultant who said she —his done probably 85 percent of the urban renewal consulting in the state,— told the Fairview City Council on Aug. 20 that —urban renewal is not a tax— and explained how tax-increment financing funnels growth in assessed value to a city—s urban renewal agency.

Howard said the amount that appears as a line item on property tax statements is a —division of taxes that are already paid— and that —if urban renewal were to go away tomorrow, nobody's property tax bill would go down.— The presentation summarized how assessed-value growth inside Fairview's urban renewal area becomes tax-increment revenues that the URA can spend on eligible projects until the district reaches its maximum indebtedness.

The briefing matters because Fairview—s URA has funded infrastructure and private-development incentives that city staff and the consultant said have produced new housing, commercial space…