Owensboro TIF consultants warn individual income tax cuts could shrink reimbursements; staff urges continued state relief

Angela (last name not stated), a city finance official, gave the commission a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) primer on April 15 and introduced consultants from Commonwealth Economics who presented a status update for Owensboro's downtown Riverfront and Gateway Commons TIF districts and described the effect of recent state tax law changes.

Casey Bolton, partner at Commonwealth Economics, said the Riverfront TIF was created in late 2016 and activated in January 2018 under a 20-year agreement; it has a state cap of $24.5 million in reimbursable state tax revenues. Bolton said the original application contemplated roughly $153.9 million in total capital investment; to date the city has reported about $89.3 million in investment, with approximately $33.6 million of the planned public infrastructure spent and $55.6 million of private investment reported so far.

Bolton said the Gateway Commons TIF was also approved in 2016 and activated in 2018 with a state award cap of roughly $20.57 million; the project has reported about $75 million of total investment to date and approximately…