Trust counsel says board seeks full TIF exemption; meeting with Pensacola mayor set to seek movement

Legal counsel for the Escambia Children—s Trust updated the board on a pending request to the City of Pensacola for an exemption from tax increment financing (TIF) revenues for tax years 2021'25. Counsel said the trust had sought a "complete and total exemption" or, at a minimum, an interlocal analysis so grant payments to city recipients could be set off against amounts otherwise due.

Counsel said the city provided a preliminary interlocal proposal that initially requested payment of the total amounts due for each year but waived interest and fees. "We have been invited... to sit down with Mayor Reeves and the city attorney next week," counsel told the board, adding that the trust hoped to obtain movement on the exemption request or a more acceptable interlocal agreement.

Counsel framed two reasons the trust sought an exemption: the substantial amount of trust-funded children's services delivered within the city and community redevelopment areas (noted at just under $10,000,000 in the discussion) and the fact that the city itself receives grant funding from the trust (cited at about $1,700,000 to the Pensacola parks and recreation department). Counsel said the trust supplemented the exemption request to include the 2025 tax year because assessment timing had shifted.

Board members thanked counsel and staff for pursuing the matter and stressed the need for equitable treatment of children countywide. The board scheduled the meeting with city leaders as a next procedural step; the transcript records the meeting as forthcoming but does not contain outcomes from that meeting.