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CRA attorney outlines TIF legal history and cautions on using increments for grant programs
Summary
City counsel reviewed the legal contours of tax increment financing and referenced a Supreme Court case that briefly altered TIF practice, saying staff should confer further before recommending redirecting increment dollars into development grants.
During commission discussion, a commissioner asked whether tax increment (TIF) increment dollars could be used in a manner similar to the city's Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Attorney Clifford Shepherd responded that the legal history is complex and recounted a Supreme Court sequence that briefly put TIF use into doubt before returning to previous practice.
Shepherd said he wanted to understand the question in more detail before offering a definitive legal opinion, noting there are cases and precedent that shape how TIF dollars may be pledged or used. He recommended staff and counsel meet to clarify whether incremental receipts could be redirected to a development-grant program and said he would follow up.
