TIF Plan Details and My Opinions

RAGBRAI WATCH AND WAVE IS JULY 25th
incorrect date in my eMail!

With tonight’s approval of the TIF district and first approval of an ordinance identifying the district, City Council continues to move forward in the process to finalize and approve the One University Place development.

I think it is fair to say there has been a lot of misinformation about the project and the process of approving the TIF (tax increment financing) that goes along with it. In order to help explain what is happening I created a PowerPoint slideshow that I shared with the rest of council and the public at tonight’s council meeting. That PowerPoint can be found here.

Key information points from the PowerPoint:

1. Only the area of project itself is in the TIF District. Taxes collected on those properties, AFTER protected levies are paid to all entities, will be used to rebate the developer for construction costs.
2. All the major governmental entities (ICCSD, Johnson County, Kirkwood CC) will receive protected levies AND any leftover increment during the TIF.
3. With a very conservative 1.5% annual increase in valuation (last 10 years U-H has averaged a 5.5% annual valuation increase) TIF would be paid off in 13.5 years.
4. The Council is following recommendations from noted TIF critic, Peter Fisher, including bonding for the city community space rather than paying via TIF.

And here is my personal opinion based on the above:

TIF is justified as it will ensure that the project is built as a high quality residential/commercial development. 

The inescapable conclusion that I draw as I look over the long road we have taken to get to this point is this:

The Council and its staff have attained nearly every major concession or goal regarding the project that represents what a majority of University Heights seems to want. The City has repeatedly bent the developer to our will:

• The development is of a size that does not overwhelm the site or neighborhood
• The development includes commercial space that is desirable to many residents
• The development will have higher end residential space that will not be targeted to students
• The development will have a community center space at an attractive price
• The Melrose/Sunset intersection will be re-aligned at One University Place's expense
• The ravine east of the project will be protected in its current state