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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK <br /> you didn't know the complete history until today but TIF actually started in this county in those <br /> two (2) places. It was fought for here and it spread across the country. West Washington may be <br /> the baby but it is the only one (1) that is left that started TIF throughout the County. California <br /> started earlier but, in our area, and in the Midwest. That is the one (1) thing James knows and it is <br /> the one (1) that ends the soonest. All the others are 2035 and 2037 and that was a way of saving <br /> the downtown one (1) from ending. The Legislature has been very negative toward TIF, as James <br /> had said. We actually started it and here we are having a conversation about it. <br /> Committee Chair White then gave the floor to Dr. Mueller to continue the presentation. <br /> Sue Kesim, 4022 Kennedy Drive, interrupted, But Jim has to leave early and I had a financial <br /> question I wanted him to ask. <br /> Mr. Bognar replied, Let him finish. <br /> Dr. Mueller stated, So it depends on the given year but looking holistically over the past fourteen <br /> (14) or sixteen(16) years, these (referencing a slide in the presentation) are the categories of how <br /> they have been historically categorized. The number one (1) category is called Jobs. Thinking of <br /> different projects in the recent past, which ones would qualify for jobs? We see that a lot of them <br /> have some sort of jobs associated with it. Whether that be Mixed-Use or the Portage Prairie build- <br /> out, or even the Technology Resource Center, there are a lot of ways to get to that. But I will say, <br /> for one (1), in the political environment, jobs have historically been a marker of success for <br /> economic development. That is something people focus on. If they aren't higher wage jobs or jobs <br /> that will survive automation,jobs are not the only metric for economic success. In a world right <br /> now where we have an unemployment rate of a few percent, most economists would say we are <br /> close to full employment but it is not necessarily the number of jobs but the quality of jobs and <br /> how they all work together. <br /> He continued, There has always been a heavy portion of TIF on infrastructure, historically. It has <br /> been underground infrastructure, streets, or other needs for infrastructure. TIF is also used for, as <br /> we talked about, Police and Fire Stations as well as the Central Services Building and others. This <br /> is often where Administrations look to, if we need a facility,they use it. In recent past,River West <br /> has funded Fire Station Four (4) over on Olive Street. That was just last year. They didn't do <br /> Station Nine(9)because, as you may know,it is currently not in the development area. I think had <br /> it been, people would have been happy to use TIF money for that. Any time there is a need for a <br /> public facility, I think TIF almost always gets at least a hard look as a source for that. <br /> He went on, There are a lot of remediation costs. There have been some legacy funds that have <br /> covered remediation but if you look at converting the Ignition Park landscape from where it was <br /> to shovel-ready today, that took a lot of dollars over the years. So a lot of money has gone into <br /> remediation. Historically, TIF has gone about two percent (2%) to Parks. I think given the new <br /> infusion of the Bond and such, it is a little higher I think. The My SB Parks & Trails plan had the <br /> General Obligation Bond, the River West TIF Bond, but it also had TIF cash that followed. We <br /> put $1.5 million into the Charles Black Center. So there was $3 million from the 2015 Park Bond <br /> and then we supplemented that with $1.5 million River West because we would have had to cut <br /> the project back too much to make the$3 million budget. So we found resources to do that. There <br /> was money put into Howard Park, substantial sums. There has been money put into some of the <br /> parks facilities in the south area such as Erskine and O'Brien. I think Councilmember Teshka and <br /> EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION I INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT <br /> 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov <br /> 7 <br />