Martinsville officials said Wednesday that the city is on track to combine its three tax-increment financing (TIF) districts into one.
Martinsville Redevelopment Commission members have been looking into not only combining the districts, but also possibly expanding or removing some areas from TIF districts. The areas that could be removed are primarily residential and those that would be added are mostly farmland south and to the east of the city. There is an area west of the jail that could be included in the TIF.
Some areas could expand out of the city into county-controlled sections, commission attorney Rod Bray said. The city would need the commissioner’s approval to add that part to the TIF.
Bray addressed the commission during its meeting Wednesday and said that, according to a timetable he distributed to members, the city is “on target” to meet this goal. Members also received maps of the current and proposed TIF districts and a list of parcels included in the districts.
The guideline leaves some time for putting together a fiscal plan, reviewing and giving comments before the declaratory resolution comes back before the commission at its July 13 meeting. After that, it will go to the Martinsville Plan Commission and the Martinsville Common Council for approval, have a notice of public hearing in the newspaper and then it gets passed on to the Morgan County Auditor and the Indiana Department of Local Government and Finance.
Engineer Ross Holloway said the commission would most likely have to write a metes and bounds description because of how the districts are set up.
No votes were taken regarding the matter.
Commission members also discussed GO Bond projects. Holloway said there were some bonds available for city road improvements and the idea is to direct the money toward sidewalks. Commission member Chip Keller said he wanted to wait until the East Morgan Street project was complete and then speak with clerk-treasurer Valerie Hugart to see where they were at with the funds.
City attorney Dale Coffey said the city planned to use around $200,000 of GO Bond money from a 2014 project on sidewalks, mostly improvements to existing ones. He said there should be some press releases soon regarding the issue.
Coffey said they could look into combining money from the city and the redevelopment commission toward the project. Coffey said the city has been looking into grants for sidewalks near schools.