TIF discussed at council meeting

On Monday, Monday, August 6 at 6:30 p.m., the Chester City Council held a special Tax Increment Financing (TIF) status hearing at city hall in the council chambers. At the July 15 Chester City Council meeting, the council released the TIF status report to members of the council and media.

The report stated not later than 10 years after a municipality establishes a TIF district, it must compile a status report concerning the redevelopment project area. The status report must detail without limitation the following: The amount of revenue generated within the redevelopment project area; any expenditures made by the municipality for the redevelopment project area including without limitation expenditures from the special tax allocation fund; the status of planned activities, goals and objectives set forth in the redevelopment plan including details on new or planned construction within the redevelopment project area, and any other relevant evaluation or performance data.

Within 30 days after the municipality compiles the report, the municipality must hold at least one public hearing concerning the report. They must provide 20 days' public notice of the hearing.

Officially established as the "Route 3 Redevelopment Project Area", it is now commonly referred to as simply the TIF District. The concept behind the tax increment law is straightforward and allows a municipality to carry out redevelopment activities on a local basis. Redevelopment that occurs in a designated redevelopment project are results in an increase in the equalized assessed valuations (EAV) of the property and, thus, generates increased real property tax revenues. This increase or "increment" can be used to finance "redevelopment project costs" such as land acquisition, site clearance, building rehabilitation, interest subsidy, construction of public infrastructure, and other redevelopment project costs as permitted by the TIF Act.

The TIF objectives were designed to eliminate the conditions that qualified the TIF District by leveraging private investment in development and redevelopment projects, rehabilitation and repair of existing buildings, and public investment in the upgrade of public infrastructure.

The city has leveraged a substational amount of private investment with TIF incentives to induce such investment. In this regard, the cit has entered into four redevelopment agreements with private parties to provide reimbursement for TIF eligible project costs associated with new development projects, building rehabilitation, repair and/or site preparation costs, and %30 of annual interest cost write-downs. These are "pay-as-you-go" agreements whereby the private party is only reimbursed from tax increment generated by the real property subject to the agreement. The private projects leveraged with TIF funds include the new Chester Center (including retrofitting existing space for new tenants), they are Pechacek-McClure Funeral Home, and the expansion of Quality Vending. The front portion of Chester Center (parcels fronting Lehmen Drive) are subject to a separate TIF redevelopment agreement.

The city accomplished several important public projects, including the following:

Pechecek McClure Funeral Home entrance road $16,031

Lochhead Drive Water Line $11,889

Brenda Street repaving $165,389

Pump Station #5 renovation $230,782

Clean, root cut & televise 8" sewer lines $19,969

Total public projects $444,060