Special Bd. of Aldermen — 03/6/2018 Page 8
Director Cummings
So Madam Chair if | may what was referenced in the first half of the video was not the effort per say to market
to bring businesses in. What it was was using TIF dollars to close the gap to make a project feasible because
there was herculean costs on the project. The GE Aviation there was roadway work that was necessary and
what not and they were able to use the TIF dollars so it wasn’t coming from the private sector to expedite that
infrastructure improvement and it was what helped bring the deal over the finish line. | want to be clear that
what we’re representing here tonight is not one specific project. What we're talking about is setting up the
governance structure that will allow us to come back before you with specific projects. What! believe we will
be looking to use the money for is and as the plan outlines is following the guide of the downtown riverfront
development plan which is a lot of infrastructure type improvements to enhance the waterway.
Director Marchant
Through the riverfront development plan, we built a lot of partnerships with the businesses and the owners of
the property around this area. It is absolutely | think something that in discussion with them that they
supported and that they think would be an asset to future expansions, future things that they’d like to do that
we could also talk about closing gaps on projects but there is no specific projects yet.
Alderman Dowd
Two questions. One if this is approved by the full Board when or does it impact the tax base for property
taxes?
Director Cummings
Great question Madam Chair if | may. It doesn’t affect the current property taxes. That’s the beauty of this
program. You’re kept whole. Your current base stays as is. The future increment on new development and
right now the only new development that’s currently out there is Brady Sullivan’s project which has already
been ongoing so we will not capture the full value of Brady Sullivan’s project. We know that that project was
assessed at and I’m going to use rough numbers approximately $1 million maybe $2 million. That would have
been the base. That project probably when it closes out will be somewhere around $16 million. It’s currently
getting assessed at right now 5 to 7 so we have a potential to capture another 6, 8 depending on how fast they
go. Statutorily by our process and the State governance assessing model, there is a day where anything after
this date cannot be included in your increment calculation and that’s April 1° which is why we're here tonight to
hopefully have this voted and approved because if not, we miss all of the next year. It would be automatically
put towards the property card of the following year.
Alderman Dowd
So the other thing is based on what I’ve seen, I’m assuming that if we improve the river area that will draw
people to want to develop along the river. If somebody wanted to put a hotel in or a nice restaurant, they
probably wouldn't like the view at the moment. What we’re anticipating doing would make that much more
attractive and also would probably increase the property values of those developments which in the end brings
back more money to the city.
Director Cummings
Madam Chair that’s exactly right. That’s why you do it. It is the philosophy of investment be gets investment
and rising tide lifts all votes. If you start to do this, you'll start to stabilize neighborhoods and improve the
community. | think the video at the end was very clear about specifics on how that worked.
