Interesting story in the Lincoln Journal Star this morning. We hope Dorchester's elected board members, including the two newest, read it.According to the Lincoln paper, when the Dorchester-headquartered Farmer's Cooperative put up new silos in 2012 in McCool Junction, McCool's city government "used a boost in tax increment financing revenue to give the entire village a facelift -- redoing streets and sewers, refurbishing parks, even acquiring land."
The Journal Star reports that "when a redevelopment project adds value to a 'substandard and blighted' property, TIF allows cities to capture the additional property taxes on that added value to help pay for related improvements that have some public benefit, generally using a bond that is repaid over 15 years."
Nebraska had 766 TIF projects as of last year. That's a big number of community improvements. Dorchester should be in that mix.
Of course, a good attorney will be needed to walk the village board through the process. But just think of the opportunities:
- Maybe a new apartment or row-house building on the site of an abandoned, neglected home. (The one on 9th Street comes to mind.)
- Perhaps a refurbished commercial building on main street.
- Or what about the next time the Farmers' Cooperative does another major, $1-million-plus project in town, like any one of the silos that have gone up here in the past half dozen years?
You need to give people a financial incentive to spend big dollars in small communities. And when they do, our village should be capturing those extra property tax dollars (created by increased property values) to benefit our community's quality of life.
Dorchester's elected leaders need to start getting creative. Examining the use of TIF in Dorchester might be a good start to help improve our community's businesses, street conditions, and housing stock.
Doing this in the time of Trump makes a lot of sense as infrastructure dollars will be heavily invested throughout the country
ReplyDeleteI hear many big spenders at some school districts are crying in their subsidized milk that TIF takes funds away from schools. With more than 60 percent of my property tax dollars already going to schools, I agree with this post. TIF THE HECK OUT OF EVERYTHING YOU CAN!
ReplyDeleteGreetings. I am a tax attorney in Lincoln and I, too, agree with this blog's post.
DeleteUndoubtedly, there are some questionable uses of tax increment financing, such as Lincoln's mulit-million dollar bike lane on N Street. That said, TIF is a necessary local program that does much good and should be supported, especially in small towns like yours. If your local leaders have not considered TIF use, I would say shame on them. They are letting you down.
Ultimately, TIF is a local program guided by local officials. The state really should have little oversight.
Thanks for letting an outsider make his point.
Allow me to make one final point. Please read this carefully:
Delete"When a redevelopment project adds value to a 'substandard and blighted' property, TIF allows cities to capture the additional property taxes on that added value to help pay for related improvements that have some public benefit, generally using a bond that is repaid over 15 years."
That means without TIF, dilapidated property would sit there, continuing to deteriorate and decline in value. That means property tax revenues, for all involved, would continue to fall.
If TIF is utilized by city officials, and a development occurs that triggers improvements and higher property values, then it should be the local city government that benefits. Isn't that obvious?
Schools crying that they don't get a large enough share of the new-and-improved property tax revenue is like a dinner guest complaining that they did not get to keep the dinner silverware.
Doesnt dorchester have three village board seats up next cycle? why not run to get something done?
ReplyDelete