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Board member faults TIF distribution; staff says building-improvement grant program is being revised
Summary
A board member criticized recent changes to tax-increment financing support for historic-district homeowners, saying prior distributions were more helpful to low-income residents; city staff said they are revising the building-improvement grant program to address matching-threshold concerns.
During board-member comments at the June 5 Palatka Historic Preservation Board meeting, a board member criticized recent changes in how tax-increment financing (TIF) funds are distributed to property owners in historic districts and said the change had harmed low-income residents.
"There's an elderly woman who lives around the corner of my formation fell through her deck. She doesn't have 2 nickels to rub together," a board member said, describing a resident who could not afford upfront repair costs. The member said that under the previous TIF distribution residents received $5,000 that helped pay for repairs, while current rules require homeowners to complete work and then receive a 50% reimbursement.
City staff member Miss West responded that the city is actively revising the building improvement grant program to address that concern. "We are working very diligently...Kristen left because she actually is working on what is known as the building improvement grant program, and we are changing it by turning this. So those thresholds do not start these matching thresholds," West said.
No formal action or vote was taken on the matter during the meeting. Board members asked staff to continue work on program revisions and indicated they would follow up through the planning and CRA processes so that homeowners without cash on hand could better access assistance in the future.
