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Clearing misconceptions of BID
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Many years back, it was recognized by people in the community that Monroe's downtown was in need of support. Walmart was coming to town, and business was suffering. The physical environment was becoming rundown with few improvements having been made over the past 50 years. It had an unreliable water system, broken streets and sidewalks with patches to trip on everywhere, and storefronts in need of updating. Vacant stores were becoming common.

These people got together and formed the Business Improvement District (BID), whose goal is to support businesses in the commercial business district through promotion and minor physical improvements. BID gets its funding by levying a modest lump sum tax which is shared by all of the commercial properties within its district. This is collected along with real estate taxes. In the recent past, this lump sum was $28,600, and was by far the lowest in Wisconsin.

In 2004, BID approached the City of Monroe about becoming a "Main Street" community. Main Street is an offshoot of the National Historic Trust and has been successful in revitalizing downtowns in places similar to Monroe. It offers guidance with streetscape and other important steps in revitalizing a business district, along with expertise in finding ways to pay for that, including Tax Incremental Financing (TIF). The Main Street District would include all commercial properties within a designated area and be funded by equal voluntary contributions from BID, the city and the community at large for annual operating expenses.

Local businesses were in favor of this, and the mayor and city council voted unanimously for it. The governor came to town and cut the ribbon, and we became a "Main Street Community," with a designated boundary around the downtown business district.

Subsequently a Tax Incremental Financing District (TID) was established. This was put in place to pay for capital improvements such as streetscape and façade improvements. This money does not come from the city budget; it comes from property taxes on the commercial properties in the TIF District (identical to the Main Street District) as they increase in value over the next couple of decades.

Recently, it was noted that the BID and Main Street boundaries were slightly different, causing about 30 commercial properties to be in the "Main Street Community," eligible for all of the benefits of Main Street, but not sharing in the annual contribution from BID. This should have been corrected when Main Street was formed, but this correction was just completed last Tuesday due to the foresight of four council members and Mayor Ron Marsh.

In 2010, the BID levy will be $32,000, still among the lowest in the state. It has been increased to allow for maintenance items anticipated due to our new streetscape, which have not been budgeted by the city. This is not a new tax, as some believe, but a lump sum now being fairly shared by all members of the "Main Street Community," instead of some paying more than their fair share and a few getting a pass. This actually should result in a tax reduction for the overwhelming majority of the property owners in the BID/Main Street District, whose voices were not heard at the city council meeting, and whose opinions were not sought out by their representative.

Most commercial property owners contribute about $200 a year through BID, and of the roughly 30 new properties now in BID, only a couple have complained about not wanting to pay their fair share. They were able to influence four of the city council members to vote against this, but fortunately the mayor made the right call. The idea of a select few being able to "opt out" of this payment is as ridiculous as someone being able to opt out of paying for the library because they don't have a library card, or opting out of school taxes because they do not have children.

A vibrant and successful downtown contributes to the property values of all properties in Monroe, especially those on and near the Square. Without it, we would not be able to encourage new people and businesses to locate in Monroe, and we would be moving backward, not forward.

If you haven't been downtown lately, it would be worth your time to see what the countless hours of work by volunteers and others has produced. And I am personally grateful to those council members and our mayor who took the time to understand this issue and make the correct decision.