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Bill would make advisory boards for TIF districts optional, proponents say they’re unnecessary
Summary
Rep. Hicks and city officials told the committee that making Tax Increment Financing (TIF) advisory boards optional would ease municipal staffing burdens; city witnesses said advisory boards only recommend and add little to long-running TIF oversight.
Representative Matthew Hicks introduced House Bill 1161, which would change RSA 162-K:14 to make advisory boards for Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts optional rather than mandatory. Hicks said municipalities find it difficult to recruit and retain members for multiple long-lived TIF advisory boards and that the change would be consistent with RSA 162-K being a local option statute.
Matthew Walsh, deputy city manager for Conquered, and Tim Thompson, assistant director of Conquered’s community development department, testified that TIF districts are multi-decade tools to capture incremental assessed value for infrastructure and that advisory boards are purely recommendatory — they do not appropriate funds. Walsh said Conquered, a city manager government, actively uses its council and professional staff to negotiate and oversee TIF arrangements and has found advisory boards unnecessary in practice.
Committee members pressed on oversight and accountability if advisory boards are optional, asking whether smaller communities without economic-development staff might lose a layer of public oversight. Witnesses and the sponsor emphasized the bill preserves local choice — municipalities could still appoint advisory boards if they want local oversight.
