A major housing project in Dubois County might not get any county funding.
At a meeting Monday, Pete Schwiegeraht with Miller-Valentine Group, a development group based in Cincinnati, briefed the Dubois County Council on Miller-Valentine’s latest housing plans for the former Jofco building near 14th and Vine streets in Jasper.
Miller-Valentine already has plans to place about 70 workforce housing units into the former Jofco building for a project called Jasper Lofts, and is now looking to add about 40 more units of workforce housing into that building as well as about 70 units of senior housing in the former Monster Recycling building nearby.
Schwiegeraht asked the county council for $100,000 in county funds for each project — $200,000 total — but the council has concerns over the housing development’s locations and whether property tax generated from the locations would ever return to the county. Council members noted that the developments were slated to take place in a section located in Jasper’s tax incremental fund district. Tax revenue collected in those areas will go into Jasper’s TIF fund to support city development in the selected district’s boundaries.
“From what I understand,” Councilwoman Martha Wehr said, “this area is already in the TIF Jasper. Any increase in assessed value over the next 25 years will go into that TIF. It won’t help the county whatsoever.”
The City of Jasper has already agreed to contribute $450,000 to the housing development, which includes tax abatement funding and money from the city’s economic development income tax fund. In addition, the city is planning to provide another $50,000 in off-site improvements, such as landscaping and streetscaping. An abatement already means losing some tax dollars, but council members were worried about the county also losing tax dollars over the entire lifespan of the TIF district, which would last 25 years.
“That’s not always a win-win for the county,” Councilwoman Becky Beckman said of TIF. “That’s more of a kick in the teeth to the county.”
Schwiegeraht argued that even if the development were to pump taxes into Jasper’s TIF fund instead of the county’s taxes, it would still benefit the county overall. Jasper Lofts calls for apartment units ranging from one to four bedrooms for rent prices ranging from $575 to $800 or $850. The senior housing in the Monster Recycling building would have one- and two-bedroom units for $575 and $650. Schwiegeraht said that re-purposing the rundown buildings would clean up blight in the area and service the entire county.
“They’re not generating any revenue right now,” Schwiegeraht said of the abandoned buildings. “A strong healthy downtown and a strong healthy Jasper, the county seat, is going to continue momentum (and growth) for the county as a whole.”
Miller-Valentine has conducted a housing survey on the need for housing in the area, Schwiegeraht said, and the survey found that there’s a need for 200 to 300 workforce housing units and about 150 senior housing units.
The council decided to table a decision on allotting Miller-Valentine any county funds until its Monday, Oct. 19, meeting. Schwiegeraht said that in November Miller-Valentine will apply for state tax credits to be used on the developments and noted that Miller-Valentine’s chances of being awarded the competitive credits will increase with local funding contributions.
“There’s new money that is being created off this,” Schwiegeraht said. “It’s just unfortunately going into this pot that’s city-based TIF.”
“That drains from our pot,” Council President Greg Kendall responded.
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