Proposed Ridgewood Special Improvement District would assess businesses; council presses for representation and budget detail

Ridgewood — At a Sept. 29 work session the Ridgewood Business Alliance (RBA) outlined a proposed special improvement district (SID) that would create a two‑tier assessment on commercial properties and fund marketing, capital improvements and economic‑development activities.

Pam, speaking for the RBA, said the plan divides the commercial area into a smaller "tier 1" (the expanded central business footprint shown on a distributed map) and a broader "tier 2" reaching to the municipality’s commercial borders. Under the proposal, tier 1 properties would be assessed 4% of their prior‑year taxes and tier 2 properties 2% of their prior‑year taxes; the RBA estimated the assessment would generate about $760,550 annually. The RBA proposed spending that revenue on marketing and branding (approximately $200,000), economic development (~$170,000), capital/visual improvements (~$216,000) and administration (~$170,550), and said the money would be collected by the village and returned to a district management corporation (the RBA) to manage per its board’s priorities.

Pam told…