MONROE - Council members agreed to move forward with planning for creating Tax Increment District 9 on the 98 acres of land commonly referred to as "The Dolman Property" recently acquired by the city along County N and Wisconsin 81.
Greg Johnson, municipal advisor from financial advisory company Ehlers & Associates, outlined the results from a feasibility study conducted to discover whether the land could be developed as a TID.
"We initially identified three broad categories of cost that would be likely to occur: land acquisition costs, infrastructure costs and then the potential for development incentives," Johnson said.
Based on the value of city property as well as the increment value of existing TIDs, a new district's base value cannot be more than $41.9 million. In his report, Johnson specified that the city has "plenty of legal capacity to create a new TID."
He focused on mixed use TID, which allows for differently zoned areas to co-exist within a district, whether residential, industrial or commercial. This option provides the least amount of zoning restrictions. Johnson pointed out that the city had looked to create "additional opportunities to diversify housing stock and industrial development."
An industrial-based TID and mixed use district have a maximum life of 20 years. In mixed use, residential areas must be limited to 35 percent of the district. Industrial requires that at least half of the land be used for that purpose per zoning classifications.
Johnson urged the council to write a project plan with the most flexibility possible in order to "reserve the right to make changes as projects move forward" when looking at TID costs.
Phase I of planning for TID 9 was hiring Ehlers to create a feasibility report. City Administrator Phil Rath said once the city agrees on results, Phase II would include moving forward with a scenario in order to create a project plan outlining the district borders and legislation to create the TID.
Three scenarios were outlined in Johnson's presentation. Rath recommended the second be used to plan for the TID. In Scenario 2, roughly $1.5 million infrastructure costs and $1.85 million for purchase of the land are financed through borrowing. Both Johnson and Rath agreed this method to buy the acreage rather than use money directly from the city's general fund would have less of an effect on the city's credit rating.
Projections by Ehlers show TID 9 would create enough financing to cover cost of expenditures over 17 years. It would close in 2034 unless expenses are added.
On July 12, the city Plan Commission would review the proposal, Rath said. An annexation ordinance would also have to be adopted before creating the TID, ideally in August. A public hearing would be held before the district would be officially created.
"We're looking at a fairly tight timeline, we've got an August date to close on the property," Rath said. "In order to meet those timeframes we would have to act quickly here to create a TIF district if that is the intent of the council."
Aldermen Jeff Newcomer, Charles Koch, Richard Thoman, Ron Marsh, Rob Schilt, Tom Miller and Chris Beer voted to move TID planning forward. Fellow council member Brooke Bauman was absent. Alderman Michael Boyce, who said he was "concerned about the vagueness" of the language of the resolution, voted against the measure.
Greg Johnson, municipal advisor from financial advisory company Ehlers & Associates, outlined the results from a feasibility study conducted to discover whether the land could be developed as a TID.
"We initially identified three broad categories of cost that would be likely to occur: land acquisition costs, infrastructure costs and then the potential for development incentives," Johnson said.
Based on the value of city property as well as the increment value of existing TIDs, a new district's base value cannot be more than $41.9 million. In his report, Johnson specified that the city has "plenty of legal capacity to create a new TID."
He focused on mixed use TID, which allows for differently zoned areas to co-exist within a district, whether residential, industrial or commercial. This option provides the least amount of zoning restrictions. Johnson pointed out that the city had looked to create "additional opportunities to diversify housing stock and industrial development."
An industrial-based TID and mixed use district have a maximum life of 20 years. In mixed use, residential areas must be limited to 35 percent of the district. Industrial requires that at least half of the land be used for that purpose per zoning classifications.
Johnson urged the council to write a project plan with the most flexibility possible in order to "reserve the right to make changes as projects move forward" when looking at TID costs.
Phase I of planning for TID 9 was hiring Ehlers to create a feasibility report. City Administrator Phil Rath said once the city agrees on results, Phase II would include moving forward with a scenario in order to create a project plan outlining the district borders and legislation to create the TID.
Three scenarios were outlined in Johnson's presentation. Rath recommended the second be used to plan for the TID. In Scenario 2, roughly $1.5 million infrastructure costs and $1.85 million for purchase of the land are financed through borrowing. Both Johnson and Rath agreed this method to buy the acreage rather than use money directly from the city's general fund would have less of an effect on the city's credit rating.
Projections by Ehlers show TID 9 would create enough financing to cover cost of expenditures over 17 years. It would close in 2034 unless expenses are added.
On July 12, the city Plan Commission would review the proposal, Rath said. An annexation ordinance would also have to be adopted before creating the TID, ideally in August. A public hearing would be held before the district would be officially created.
"We're looking at a fairly tight timeline, we've got an August date to close on the property," Rath said. "In order to meet those timeframes we would have to act quickly here to create a TIF district if that is the intent of the council."
Aldermen Jeff Newcomer, Charles Koch, Richard Thoman, Ron Marsh, Rob Schilt, Tom Miller and Chris Beer voted to move TID planning forward. Fellow council member Brooke Bauman was absent. Alderman Michael Boyce, who said he was "concerned about the vagueness" of the language of the resolution, voted against the measure.