Hooper councilors hear plan to use CRA tax increment to pay for lift station for proposed 25‑acre shopping center

Hooper City officials on June 17 discussed using a Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) — commonly known as tax‑increment financing — to pay for a sewer lift station needed for a proposed 25‑acre shopping center that would include a grocery store and other retail.

Developers and consultants, including representatives from Strata Group and the firm that prepared the fiscal analysis, urged the council to allow them to pursue CRA negotiations with other taxing entities and to return with a development agreement and site plan. Council members spent most of the meeting seeking clarification about which taxes would be used, what share of future property‑tax increases might be diverted to a CRA, and which outside agencies would have to approve participation.

Why it matters: the lift station is a roughly $3 million infrastructure cost that developers say is a condition of building the retail center; without public participation they say the project would not be financially feasible. A CRA would freeze the current assessed value at today’s level and channel a portion of future property‑tax increases from the project area for a set term to pay project costs, they said.

What consultants told the council Stuart, a Strata Group representative, described the CRA as a standard public‑finance tool for large infrastructure “that is bigger than the project” and said using a CRA would spread the lift‑station cost across the broader taxing districts rather than placing the full cost on the new development or on future residents. Stuart said…