Special Board of Aldermen 09-28-2020 Page 9
| had sent to a previous Board of Aldermen back in 2018. | gave a Memo on how do TIF’s work and I'll be
happy to send that around again. It gives people just basic information as to who, what, where, when, why
TIF’s are used in the mechanics of TIF’s are put into place.
Relative to this specific TIF we are looking at $8 million dollars is about just about $400,000.00 to
$450,000.00 in debt that will be 100% covered by this School Street Project itself. Of course we would also
need to include the $900,000.00 that would be coming from the direct appropriation, as a direct
appropriation that would be coming through the Master Developer Agreement and help with some cash
flow matters up front. But nonetheless, this is a TIF that would be self-supported and it would not take any
additional taxpayer money to effectuate this transaction and to make this happen. That’s one of the
reasons why we looked at using TIF to help move both projects forward.
How or why did we decide to use TIF? It became abundantly clear as we were continuing with the School
Street development project this summer, that there was a lot of neighbors and abutters who were
interested in preserving the parking along School Street. We understood that. We also knew that we
needed to move the development forward. And so a creative way of doing that was to institute this TIF, it’s
one of the reasons why we have this type of tool at our disposal. It was at that time that | thought killing
two birds with one stone may make sense. So | recommended knowing that the developer was a big
supporter of the Performing Arts Center and one of the reasons why he was interested in this project to
begin with, is because of the investments we were making in the downtown, that we look to structure the
TIF so we could do two projects at the same time.
So l’ve heard some questions about timing and whether this would be able to be done in time. | think we
can make the timing. I’ve heard questions about the mapping and how we structured the map. | structured
the map to be a concise as possible to try to keep it as tight, if you will, of a district and not to make it too
expansive. And | think | am going to leave my comments there and happy to answer any questions that
may come up, Mr. Chair. But | think ultimately the one thing that | want to just again reemphasize is we are
in striking distance and have the $4 million dollars in hand, predicated on some other additional
developments occurring in short order. It looks as though we would be able to start the Performing Arts
Center under construction, if it is the pleasure of this Board right after the first of the year. So thank you.
Chairman Dowd
Ok before | open it up to public testimony, are there any Aldermen that have questions for any of the
presenters?
Mayor Donchess
Mr. Chair, could | just give a quick conclusion?
Chairman Dowd
Sure, Mayor?
Mayor Donchess
| just wanted to thank everyone who’s been involved in this project, especially those who’ve been raising
money, Rich Lannan and Debbie Novotny, who have raised $1,500,000.00 plus thousand dollars before
the public phase. And Tim Cummings and Celia Leonard, Neil Cannon, who have worked hard to secure
the New Market Tax Credits. Together the private fundraising, again even before the public phase, and the
New Market Tax Credits, total the $4 million dollars or within $100,000.00 if they don’t reach it. So | am
confident we will reach our $4 million dollar goal. Of course, we can’t proceed with the project unless we
do. But things obviously are looking very good, so | wanted to thank everyone involved.
