RDC requests $115 million in TIF district AV

Thursday, June 1, 2017

When the Greencastle City Council meets Thursday, June 8 it will field a request from the Redevelopment Commission (RDC) to increase the portion of assessed value from the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district the RDC plans to capture for 2017, pay 2018.

After spirited discussion at the May meeting of the RDC, members agreed to request taking $115 million in assessed value and passing along the approximately $35 million remaining in assessed value in the Greencastle Economic Development Area TIF district to other local taxing units.

That came on a motion by Gwen Morris with affirmative votes from Drew Brattain and Erika Gilmore. Gary Lemon abstained from voting after campaigning for the RDC to take $125 million in assessed value this time en route to eventually capturing all of the city TIF district assessed value in the same way almost every other city in Indiana does.

“I’m not sure anybody’s as low as we are,” City Attorney Laurie Hardwick said of the share of AV the Greencastle commission has been capturing.

The $115 million request follows last year’s move to increase the take from $75 million to $100 million.

Lemon advised that when the commission went from capturing $50 million in AV annually to $75 million, “gloom and doom was predicted, and it didn’t happen.”

“Then last year we went from $75 million to $100 million -- a 33 percent increase -- and gloom and doom was predicted, and again it didn’t happen,” Lemon said. The change last year resulted in “very little impact” on the other taxing units within the city and county, Lemon said.

Following the meeting, City Councilman Dave Murray located the figures from last year when the RDC captured $100 million instead of $75 million.

“This is money you can never recapture,” Murray said during the RDC meeting at City Hall.

He reported that revenue to RDC was $2,814,576 instead of the previous $2,002,875, an increase of $811,701. Lost revenue was $93,425 in School Capital Projects, a rate-limited account to be used only for new things to be built in the future. It went from $1,869,804 to $1,776,379.

The next largest losses were $13,225 in the rate-limited County Cumulative Bridge Fund and the rate-limited City of Greencastle Corporation Capital Development Fund, Murray reported in an email to RDC members and the Banner Graphic.

Denise Sigworth, an ex-officio member of the RDC via the Greencastle School Board, expressed concern that the school corporation already knows it will not be getting as much in its general fund.

However, Mayor Bill Dory advised that the TIF funding request “has no impact” on the school corporation’s general fund.

The mayor called the process “a balancing act,” with the bottom line focus being “adjusting our TIF take without impacting other taxing units or having an adverse impact on the one-, two- and three-percent (property tax) caps.”

Dory initially proposed the request stay at $100 million for 2017, pay 2018 as he urged the RDC to ”be cautious.”

At least two others urged a bump to $110 million, while Lemon was adamant that his preference was $125 million.

Last year the RDC actually recommended staying at $75 million for a couple of years but the City Council -- of which Lemon and Murray are two of the seven members -- boosted it to $100 million.

After making her motion for the $115 million request, Morris suggested that the city possibly partner with the schools in some way on a mutually beneficial project using the TIF funds. That essentially occurred when the city funded the widening and renovation of Percy Julian Drive that serves as a main artery to and from the high school and middle school properties. Both the GHS and GMS sites are within the TIF district.

The RDC will provide a letter of recommendation on the $115 million request to the City Council for consideration June 8.

After Council action, the letter will go out to other taxing units and their representatives. Besides the city taxing units, those include the County Auditor’s Office, Putnam County Council, Putnam County Commissioners, Greencastle Community Schools, Putnam County Public Library, Greencastle Township Trustee and Putnam County Airport Authority.

The exact amount of the assessed value available for pass through will be determined once final assessed values are established for the 2017 pay 2018 taxes and the TIF neutralization study is complete.

The City Council meets at 7 p.m. Thursday at City Hall.

The next RDC meeting is set for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 28.

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