Finance committee advances Springfield Crossing plan to full council after debates over $8 million DIF pledge

The Springfield City Finance Committee reviewed a proposal June 2 to establish a District Improvement Financing district (DIF) for the Springfield Crossing redevelopment on the former Eastfield Mall site that would pledge a portion of new tax revenue to repay bonds issued on behalf of the project.

City staff described the proposal as a plan to use 50% of the incremental tax revenue generated by the development to cover debt service on bonds that would be issued by the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency; the city itself would not be assigned the underlying debt, staff said. City staff also provided estimates for the project’s value and timeline: an assessed value of about $77 million for phase 1 when complete, total development costs across three phases of roughly $147 million, and an estimated seven- to eight-year period before the city would receive 100% of the tax revenue on the completed phase.

The DIF proposal would cover certain extraordinary development costs—demolition, abatement, site preparation, earthwork and paving—totaling an estimated $8 million in public subsidy. Officials said the DIF would capture 50% of the “increment,” the difference between the base assessed value…