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Hooksett EDC launches business and public outreach after TIF bond stalls
Summary
At a regularly scheduled Economic Development Committee meeting, members agreed to form two subcommittees to press for passage of a tax-increment financing (TIF) bond to fund sewer infrastructure to serve the Exit 10 area after prior votes failed.
Members of the Hooksett Economic Development Committee agreed at their meeting to split work into two subcommittees to rally businesses and voters behind a stalled TIF bond intended to finance sewer infrastructure at Exit 10.
The committee said the bond would be paid from tax-increment revenues captured inside the Exit 10 TIF district and would not require a property-tax increase for town residents. Committee members said previous public votes rejected the bond despite that, and they want coordinated outreach to show how sewer availability would enable new development and reduce septic maintenance costs for businesses.
Committee members discussed direct outreach to large property owners and businesses in the district — including Walmart, Market Basket, Bass Pro and other Exit 10/Exit 11 properties — to ask whether they would contribute funds or otherwise support the project. The committee identified both a business-outreach subcommittee to approach owners and a public-relations subcommittee to produce short, focused educational materials explaining how TIF works and what, if anything, voters would pay.
Documents discussed at the meeting show the Exit 10 TIF account held $270,535 as of April 30; committee members said that amount underpinned earlier modeling for a roughly $10,000,000 bond. Members noted rising construction costs since the earlier analysis and discussed whether a smaller phased approach would be viable if voters again decline to approve bonding.
Committee members also described the engineering scope that bonding would fund: upgrades to the Martins Ferry pump station, a new force main and a double-barrel river crossing under the Merrimack River and a new pump station near Kimball Drive to bring sewer service to parcels currently on septic.
The committee asked staff to compile parcel ownership and contact lists for Exit 10 and to schedule outreach meetings with property owners and corporate representatives. Volunteers listed themselves to staff the two subcommittees and agreed to report back at the next committee meeting.
Why it matters: The committee said added sewer capacity would make more land developable (hotels, sit-down restaurants and other uses cited), capture additional tax increment for the TIF district and allow the town to pay down TIF debt faster once improvements are in place.
No formal bond authorization or new vote was taken at the meeting. Committee members framed the next steps as outreach and education to improve chances of voter approval at a future town ballot.
