Proposed Laws Would Impact Local Redevelopment Panels
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Legislation in the Indiana General Assembly could have an impact on redevelopment commissions throughout Indiana, and the Warsaw Redevelopment Commission voiced its concern over two specific bills. During the Warsaw Redevelopment Commission meeting Monday, President Tim Meyer brought up a couple of bills “that will directly affect us.” Both involve the role of schools. One bill would increase the role of schools on redevelopment commission panels. The other would grant schools more authority involving tax increment finance districts. “There are a couple of House Bills – HB 1082 and HB 1131 – both pretty much call for a change to the redevelopment commission such that a member of the school board would become a voting member, not a non-voting member,” Meyer said. City Planner Jeremy Skinner said the school board member would replace someone on the board. Currently, the configuration of the commission is two voting appointments from the city council, three from the mayor and the school board appoints one non-voting member. Under the proposal, the mayor would lose one appointment and the school board would appoint a person as a voting member. Mike Klondaris, city councilman and commission member, asked, “Did they give a reason why? They don’t have to, right?” Meyer responded, “From what I read, they stated that the school boards felt that they were losing a fair amount of tax revenue because of things that the redevelopment commission was doing in (TIF) districts. That is the basis, they wanted more control over that.” However, he said, the argument to that is that the TIF districts are investing in infrastructure and redevelopment to increase the tax base. “There’s a payback on that, an entire investment that we are making and they should benefit from that,” Meyer stated. “They do benefit,” Klondaris agreed. Skinner said, “That’s their argument, but let’s be honest, it’s a sham. All they’re doing is they’re using the school board as a patsy to try to reduce the mayor’s power on the redevelopment commission.” He said the way schools are set up now, there is only one fund that schools draw from that would be impacted by TIFs anymore because school funding has all been changed over the last 10 years. “They’re not funded the same way they used to be. They’re all funded through the state instead of the way they used to be funded,” Skinner said, noting that the only fund that is impacted by TIF districts is the capital improvement fund. “The rest of them would receive no more funding if there were no TIFs because most of them are capped like we are on our taxing rate. So if we were not to have TIFs, they wouldn’t get any more money. The rate would just be low. They would still be capped at the same amount of money. The only one that would receive some additional funding would be capital projects and that would be limited because it has to be a project, it has to be something you’re building,” he said. “Well, let’s hope that bill doesn’t pass,” Klondaris stated. The other proposal Meyer brought up to the commission was Senate Bill 512. It provides that “if any redevelopment commission outside of Marion County wishes to establish a TIF district, after the end of this year, the school district located wholly or partially in that TIF district may elect whether to participate in that TIF. So, they want to be able to opt out of any TIF district,” he explained. Klondaris asked, “How are they even opting in? They don’t pay taxes.” Meyer said that was a good question. “I love how they cut out everybody out except Marion County,” Klondaris said. “It’s like they’re constantly stacking the deck against everybody but themselves down there.” Skinner said, “Well, that’s because they’re never going to get it through Marion County, and they know that. Never! Much like early on with the historic TIF district. That’s why Marion County was excluded from that, because no one would buy into that.” He said both bills were “bad legislation and hopefully will get kicked out.” “I wanted to make sure you were aware that was being discussed,” Meyer said. In other business, the commission: • Approved the purchase of a 40-foot wide by 396-foot long right of way along CR 300N from Steven B. and Margaret L. Wilson for $5,000 for the CR 300N project. Skinner said this was the last piece of property he needed to acquire for the project, which includes infrastructure and a bike trail. • Approved claims for $1,158.30, Faegre Baker Daniels; $3,345.46, Troyer Group; $1,417.50, Umbaugh & Associates; $250, Huntington National Bank; $816.66, American Structurepoint; $7,705.83, Indiana Department of Transportation; and $850, Regions Corporate Trust. • Congratulated Skinner on receiving the “Excellence in Government” award recently from the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce. “We’re certainly very proud of that and we congratulate you,” Meyer said. “I appreciate it and it was a great honor, and it’s been a great 12 years,” Skinner replied.
