Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Tax Incentives topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bond counsel briefs council on how TIF works and what the city can capture
Summary
Gilmore and Bell’s bond counsel explained that TIF captures incremental assessed value above a base year for up to 20 years, requires eligible area findings (conservation, blight or pre‑1992 enterprise zone), and typically limits vertical costs except parking. Council asked technical and jurisdictional questions about shielded mills and project plan timing.
Kevin Wilpby of Gilmore and Bell gave the council a step‑by‑step overview of tax increment financing and how it is used in redevelopment plans. He told council that a TIF district sets a base assessed valuation on the date of establishment and that only the increment above that base may be captured and used to repay eligible project costs over a project plan period that can last up to 20 years.
"TIF for each project plan is limited to 20 years," Kevin said, and he explained the three common eligibility pathways: designation as a conservation area (older buildings and obsolescence), a blight finding under statute, or location inside a pre‑1992 enterprise zone. He noted that eligible costs are narrow (land acquisition, site prep, demolition and horizontal infrastructure) and that vertical costs are generally ineligible except for parking structures. Councilmembers asked about shielded mills for school districts and county impacts; counsel clarified that some mills are off‑limits for capture and that other taxing jurisdictions receive notice and have protest rights under state law.
Council asked practical questions — how an extended district base year is treated, what happens to increment before development, and which mills are shielded — and counsel emphasized that TIF project plans require public notice, hearings and, for adoption, typically a supermajority vote. Staff and bond counsel told the council a TIF project plan can take several months to adopt with full procedural steps and that the city typically pairs TIF with parking or other eligible infrastructure in redevelopment projects.
