Boone County panel adopts confirmatory resolution to expand TIF area, clearing path for bond sale

Members of the Boone County Economic Development Commission voted unanimously to adopt a confirmatory resolution related to an amended declaratory resolution that expands a tax-increment financing (TIF) area for a private development project. The commission also approved meeting minutes and routine claims.

The amending declaratory resolution expands the existing TIF area to include additional acreage acquired for the project and reflects a land swap that shifts vehicular access from State Road 275 to 350, moving heavier traffic away from homes along 275. A staff member explained the sequence of approvals required under state law and the remaining timetable toward a bond sale.

The staff member said the amended declaratory resolution “merely expanded the existing TIF area to include the extra acreage that the merits have acquired as part of the project,” and described a land trade with adjoining property owners so “all of the entrances at this point will be on 350 rather than 275, which I think is what everybody thought was the best best.” The staff member noted that the planning commission and the county commissioners had already approved related findings before returning the matter to the Economic Development Commission for a public hearing and potential confirmatory resolution.

After the commission approved the confirmatory resolution, the staff member outlined next steps: filing the confirmatory resolution with the recorder’s office, notifying the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) by posting on Gateway, and then sending the matter back to the county commissioners for final approval at a November 3 meeting. If those steps proceed as expected, the project would next appear before the economic development commission (estimated in early December), then the county council for a bond ordinance (anticipated in early January), and then the county would negotiate the private bond sale. The staff member said the anticipated purchaser of the bonds is a firm identified in the meeting as “Hagaman.”

Commissioners also approved several claims and invoices presented at the meeting and accepted the minutes from the prior meeting. The claims list included invoices described in the meeting as Baker Tilly invoices for tax-exempt bond arbitrage and TIF-area work (one for $2,727.50 and another for $3,920), an Ice Miller invoice described as economic development negotiation professional services, and other amounts discussed in the claims packet.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to approve minutes from the September meeting — adopted (unanimous). - Motion to close the public hearing and adopt a confirmatory (affirmatory) resolution for the amended declaratory resolution expanding the TIF area — adopted (unanimous). - Motion to approve claims presented at the meeting — adopted (unanimous).

Members and staff did not specify exact voter counts in the record; the meeting reflected unanimous voice votes with no recorded dissents. The staff member told the commission that if the confirmatory resolution is adopted by the commissioners on Nov. 3 and subsequent approvals follow, there would be little required work for the commission on this item until early in the new year when bond negotiation would resume.

The commission’s action does not itself issue debt; it advances the administrative and statutory steps that lead to the county council’s bond ordinance and a private bond sale. The staff member cautioned that remaining procedural steps include filing, DLGF notification via Gateway, and approvals by the county commissioners, the economic development commission, and the county council.