Gas City Planning Commission adopted three different orders for an amendment to the preexisting tax increment financing (TIF) in the city on Monday evening, which Gas City Council will review on Nov. 2.
Gas City Redevelopment Commission (RDC) had previously approved the amendments to the declaratory resolution for the 2021 TIF area.
The proposal requested that the commission find the amendment to align with the 2021 Comprehensive Plan for the Development of the City of Gas City, note that all aspects of the amendment are approved, and authorize the secretary of the commission to file a permanent copy of the adoption in the minutes.
The commission has the authority to find whether the amendments conform to their established plan and adopt the amendments, otherwise, the approval from the RDC would be null.
City Engineer Jason Miller led the discussion by explaining what the TIF area is and what the adoption would encompass.
“This in essence is expanding the TIF area to incorporate all project area – all land within what is now or will soon become the Marion Health campus for Gas City, formerly known as MGH,” said Miller. “This property includes three tax parcels.”
The city annexed the land in December of 2020, but only recently was the amendment made to the TIF to include this land, which is on the corner of State Road 22 and 700 East, according to councilman Larry Terwillegar.
A non-profit organization will utilize the additional TIF land, but for-profit organizations may eventually begin development in the zone, which will lead to tax revenue for the city.
“Initially, it won’t affect (the city) very much at all. The idea is that the development that is being done along that property is a not-for-profit organization,” said Terwillegar. “However, we expect some for-profit development to also occur there. If that happens, then we will be able to capture that tax revenue off of that for-profit development into TIF.”
Expansion of the TIF would establish a baseline assessed value (AV), but the already established AV would not change. Any improvement made to the TIF area by this expansion would increase the tax allocation and would be handled by the RDC.
Expanding the TIF area will extend the expiration date, initially set for 2027, essentially “resetting the clock,” according to Terwillegar.
The expansion would greatly help the city, with no true repercussions, due to the $75 million investment made, according to Miller.
Planning commission adopted all three requests in the proposal. The amendments will now be reviewed by the city council, then the RDC again, then it will come back to the council for final adoption planned for Nov. 16, 2021.
“Time is of the essence in order to have the amended TIF area in effect by the end of the year so that any taxable development that is generated as a part of the properties in question would then be allocated towards TIF jurisdiction,” said Miller.
The non-profit organization that will be included in the expansion has not released more information to the public and officials are unable to disclose more information at this time.
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