Gibson County looks for I-69 economic gain

Local officials are more accustomed to paving the way for economic development as it happens by creating Tax Increment Finance districts to support infrastructure needs when companies pick a spot in Gibson County.

But there are miles and miles of property fronting I-69’s route from Evansville to Indianapolis, so Gibson County’s stake in catching some of the development opportunities stepped it up a notch Monday.

The Gibson County Redevelopment Commission Monday unanimously approved a declaratory resolution which establishes a 47,000-acre economic development area along the Gibson County stretch of I-69.

The action came after a good deal of discussion. “I’m not sure in my own mind yet what this will do until we get a Tax Increment Finance district,” admitted commission vice chairman Bruce Fisher.

Gibson County Economic Development Corp. CEO Todd Mosby said Monday  the designation could pave the way for Tax Increment Finance districts in areas where infrastructure is needed for development along the corridor.

The redevelopment commission would still need to consider when or if a TIF district is needed for potential development incentives. A TIF district captures assessed valuation and uses some of the property tax revenue paid by a company developing in that district to fund infrastructure or other projects that benefit the district.

Gibson County has two TIF districts, created for Toyota and for Gibson County Coal’s new mine near Owensville. Tax Increment Financing has been used in those districts to improve roads and provide utility needs.

Mosby said no specific TIF district is planned for the area immediately. Traditionally, the Gibson County Redevelopment Commission has designated an economic development area and created a TIF district virtually simultaneously, when an economic development project is in the works.

With no specific development project at hand, some commission members had questions about the necessity for designating such a large area along I-69.

Mosby said having the area designated is one less step necessary when a TIF district might be created, but confirmed that the redevelopment commission must still go through the statutory requirements of confirming a TIF district.

He said county officials, who have been privately working on the economic development area for months, didn’t want to move too quickly on creating TIF districts.

TIF districts have a “shelf life” of 25 years, Mosby reported.

Bruce Fisher added that the “clock” doesn’t start on a TIF district until debt is incurred for a project, however.

The development area would encompass property along the interstate, with a focus on the interchanges at Ind. 68, Ind. 168 and Ind. 64. The Ind. 64 interchange has sewer, broadband and other utilities in the area, but Mosby said it’s possible a company might require infrastructure in place for future expansion.

He said a shovel-ready site north of Princeton was recently among three finalists for a $200 million to $300 million chemical plant project that would have brought 600 jobs, but the company wanted assurance of adequate water supply for expansion years in the future.

Creating the economic development area won’t raise taxes for anyone else and it contains no provisions for any type of zoning, Mosby explained.

Fisher, who abstained from voting to conduct a public hearing on the matter last month, told Mosby and Gibson County Commissioner Steve Bottoms that he didn’t like getting the information and being expected to vote on it nearly simultaneously.

“To me, we should have been brought in on this from the git-go,” he explained.

Bottoms apologized. “We really believed you were following and that you knew what was going on....There was no intent on our part to keep you out of it.”

Mosby said the private meetings were planned to update leaders in the affected area and to prevent “speculation and inadequate knowledge,” noting that he didn’t want a public meeting  before “we had our ducks in a row.”

Redevelopment commission member Tom Hauschild said he wasn’t sure about the benefit to creating an economic development area with no TIF district or project in mind.

Mosby said Pike County is doing the same thing, and Warrick County has an economic development area in place.

Designating the area is one less step in a sometimes short window of time to attract a project, he said. ‘The days of taking a cornfield and just starting out is a challenge now,” he said, referring to Toyota’s site selection of 1,100 acres of farmground in 1995.

Bottoms said he’s doing his homework to get planning study funding for the three interchanges along the highway.

Mosby said he’s going to Japan when Gov. Mike Pence’s delegation makes a trade mission, mainly to talk to companies about Gibson County’s development opportunities.

He said the Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana also helps market Gibson County.

The Gibson County Economic Development Corp. is one of 5,000 EDCs in the nation vying for about 50 new opportunities a year which bring in 50 or more employees, he said.