In an industrial TIF, at least 51% of the development must be industrial. The discussion in the planning commission and on the audio, was whether the "industrial" designation was realistic since it seemed that the developers wanted more commercial than industrial possibly.
Anyway, there will be an open public hearing in Sept for Evansville citizens to hear the details on TIF #6 and the mix of commercial and industrial that is proposed. Remember that this is not for the biodiesel===that is TIF #7.)
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( Click on the audio to hear the question on TIF #6. Adjust the tone for poor quality. It is a million dollar question since the assessments to commercial amount to almost a million dollars. )
Normally it is not the purpose of TIF financing to subsidize development that would normally occur. My question to Mr. Wagner of Ehlers and Associates, the financial advisors to the city of Evansville, was whether the 51/49 split of industrial/commerical was just a way of getting around the intent of the law.
His response was that there was language in the proposed TIF that provided for special assessments to the commercial so that it would not amount to a subsidy. He admitted that he recommended that the city use flexible language in the TIF so they had some options on these assessments---however the intent of the TIF was not to subsidize commerical but the other way around---to provide a stream of increment during the first ten years of the build up where the increment from the commercial would come first and the build up of the industrial would come over twenty years.
Several of the planning commission members including Hammann and Braunschweig indicated that they did not support subsidy of the commercial and it was not their intent in voting for the TIF to do so.
What is the answer to the question of whether this will be a subsidy. The current answer is "Maybe." Stay tuned.
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