Consultant tells Paris council TIRS is compliant, offers training and updated financial tools

Fort Pine Consulting gave the Paris City Council a summary of findings and training materials for Paris TIRS No. 1, saying the zone’s reporting is current and providing new tools to help the board and staff track future revenues and abatements.

The presentation, delivered by consultant Joseph Denney of Fort Pine Consulting, described the engagement as “not an audit” but a business analysis that reconciled data from Lamar CAD and city staff, identified a 2023 reporting discrepancy tied to a partial abatement and offered spreadsheets, process maps and a board information notebook to guide future reporting and amendments. “Again, this is just sort of a quick ... overview of the work that we’ve done for the TIRS,” Denney told the council.

Denney said the city dedicates 50% of the property-tax increment from the zone to the TIRS fund, and that the zone’s original term was set for 30 years beginning with the 2019 baseline. He reported that, after accounting for a partial abatement that had not been included in initial data, the 2023 variance reduced to a roughly $3,500 impact on TIRS receipts — important to monitor but small in the first year. “This was not an audit,” Denney said. “I’m not an auditor ... this was a business analysis.” He also reported that the required state filings and compliance items are current: “You guys are 100% compliant.”

The consultant described deliverables the TIRS board and city staff will receive: (1) board training covering roles, reporting and open‑meeting responsibilities; (2) swim‑lane process-flow diagrams and timelines for amendments and project approvals; and (3) updated financial-forecast spreadsheets that allow modeling of property-value appreciation, new projects and the effects and durations of abatements. Denney said one of the projection tools will let staff model future property-tax rates, value appreciation and the effect of incoming projects and abatements.

Council members asked how the fund is financed and who may request money from the TIRS. Denney explained the funding mechanism as the city dedicating half of the increment above the 2019 baseline to the TIRS fund, and that developers and private projects can apply to the board for support under the zone’s project plan. He also noted that, as currently written, expenditures are limited to Zone 2 of the TIRS unless the project plan is amended.

City staff and the consultant said they will present the fuller training and a longer workshop to the TIRS board later in the week, and leave behind the spreadsheets and the board information notebook for ongoing use.

The council did not take formal action; the item was a receipt/presentation and training overview.