The Village of St. Joseph hopes to take action on a residential TIF district by the end of January.
Trustee Andy Gherna said the village has set they goal of having a decision on the residential TiF district by January.
In November, the superintendents from the two St. Joseph school districts banded together to make a proposal to the St. Joseph Village Board.
St. Joseph-Ogden High School Brian Brooks and St. Joseph Grade School Superintendent Todd Pence presented the board with a plan that would see the districts receive 70-percent of the new tax dollars they would generate from the new property taxes within the TIF district.
Pence based the presentation off a previous number provided by the developer Greg Millage regarding the amount of houses he would build in a development if the village created a residential TIF.
In 2017, the developer’s plan called for the land, behind Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, to include 64 lots, with 12 duplex condos and an assisted-living facility.
Millage developed the 44-lot Windstone Subdivision in Tolono after that village created at TIF district in 2003.
Pence said with the numbers the developer provided there would be $15.7 million in new tax revenue created.
Over the life of the TIF, which is 23 years, the proposal would see the Grade School receive $3.96 million dollars in tax dollars. The district would give up $1.7 million.
The high school would receive $2.9 million and give up $1.2 million.
The proposal leaves the village with 53.43 percent of the money generate from the TIF, or $8.4 million to spend as it wishes, Pence said.
The superintendents said their final offer must include each school district and the St. Joseph-Stanton Fire Protection District will be reimbursed 70-percent of the property tax dollars each district will generate in the new developed areas of the proposed TIF.
The proposal also requires that all taxing bodies will be reimbursed 100 percent of the tax dollars each taxing body generates in the area of the proposed TIF district that is already developed.
“That has been on the table from the beginning,” Pence said.
If there are additional phases of new construction in the proposed TIF District, meaning the developer builds more houses than just the initial phase, each school district and the St. Joseph-Stanton Fire Protection District will receive 70-percent of the property tax dollars each district will generate from that development.
The life of the TIF is 23 years, the schools and fire protection district are asking the village not to extend the life of the TIF and not create new TIF projects on any portion of the proposed TIF district that has been dissolved, completed or terminated for 15 years without the consent of the school districts and the fire protection district.
“We just want to be on the same page up front,” Pence said. “We feel if we get the 70-percent we can still function.”
Pence said that the schools had come to the conclusion that a residential TIF would benefit the community by having new development and new families move into the village. Pence said the grade school is losing 40 students a year.
“If you aren’t growing you are dying,” he said.
Brooks said the schools have come to the conclusion that the community needs grown.
“We have come to the conclusion that the only way we are going to get there is through this,” he said. “We feel like you opened a huge door by taking care of the sanitary sewer through different means and we feel like that is a win, win, win.”
St. Joseph’s last residential development came in 2007, when the Crestview subdivision was built.
St. Joseph was originally looking at the TIF district as a way to fund infrastructure upgrades, but they feel they can fund those upgrades with sewer rate increases.
Gherna said the village was almost ready to take action on the residential TIF, and hoped to reach a decision by the end of January. Gherna stressed that the village would continue working with the schools before reaching a final decision.
“I don’t see you guys being surprised by any action we would take,” Gherna said. “We would have to inform you first.”
Gherna thanked both superintendents for steering the conversation regarding the TIF.
“I appreciate your opinion and your guidance throughout all this,” Gherna said.
TIF districts are usually created when a municipality identifies an economically stagnant or physically declining area and determines that private investment is not likely to occur without public help. The one St. Joseph is discussing is different in that trustees were approached by the developer about creating it.
