08-22-16 Community Investment - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

No one from the public spoke either in favor of or in opposition to the bill. Committeemember Will Smith made a motion to send Bill 16 -65 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Committeemember Randy Kelly seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of six (6) ayes. TIF Briefing, Brian Pawlowski — Acting Director Dept. of Community Investment Mr. Pawlowski stated we can look fairly close to home for other examples of Cities utilizing their different TIF Districts. Mishawaka tends to be rigid in its use of TIF for infrastructure and other types of uses but occasionally spends on other things for substantial public good which can be seen in some of their park developments. We have looked at that as well which is evident in the Parks Master Plan with the example of the Howard Park Ice Rink. We have also seen communities especially those circling Indianapolis that have utilized TIF very aggressively for recruitment, expansion, retention, and basically a large and diverse variety of uses. South Bend, especially since Mayor Pete became Mayor, has gone in many of those different directions simultaneously. We have recognized some of those bigger fish in terms of large companies and job creation that we have gone after pretty aggressively with whatever we had at our disposal. Mr. Pawlowski stated he believes the City has done a good job seeing the pulse of projects in the area and how sustainable they are going to be. If you look at the average amount of investment from a City perspective, which is a combination of abatements and TIF, the City has really hued close to a twenty percent (20 %) or less investment in the project. To the extent that we are higher in some instances they are probably very unique projects for whatever reasons. Looking at TIF going forward in light of the economic momentum we currently have discussed ways to utilize TIF in a more narrow fashion such as infrastructure approach with keeping open the possibility of exceptions when those important opportunities arise. It is really all about the individual project because no two (2) projects are the same and no two (2) projects have the same needs. Currently, we are looking to be more in the ten percent (10 %) to fifteen percent (15 %) average of investment in a project. If we can start looking at projects with our given momentum we may be able to push that number lower. During the Department of Community Investment budget presentation on August 29th, Mr. Pawlowski stated they will have some final decisions to give to the Council for their feedback. The City, as almost all other municipalities in Indiana, is facing a strain on the General Fund and to the extent we have public use opportunities TIF could fill we are looking into that to ease the burden on the General Fund. We have a capacity within certain TIFs to take some public use on from the General Fund while still having the ability to fund certain projects in the future. Councilmember Karen White asked Mr. Pawlowski as we move towards 2019 and 2020 where the revenue streams will be very limited, how can we utilize TIF differently than what we currently do which is focused on projects and infrastructure such as maybe even supporting public safety like some communities have done. 3