From the Johnson County Daily Journal:
A $10 million Greenwood aquatic center has gotten its first approval and is expected to be paid for with property tax dollars typically set aside for economic development projects.
Residents shouldn’t expect to get to vote on the proposed swimming hole but still might get a say in the project through public meetings.
A new aquatic center is expected to cost less than the $12 million threshold that would automatically trigger a referendum under state law. The project also won’t have to face a petition drive known as a remonstrance if Greenwood uses tax dollars set aside in special taxing districts, because that money comes from property taxes paid by businesses in certain areas and not most property owners, city attorney Krista Taggart said.
Greenwood plans to pay for the project with property tax dollars that are collected from new development in certain geographic areas, called tax-increment financing districts, or TIF districts. The money would otherwise go to road-widening projects and incentives for new businesses in those areas. When a city sets up a TIF district, schools, libraries, townships and other local governments do not get to collect property taxes from new development in the area.
After weeks of study and hundreds of suggestions from residents, the pool committee recommended that Greenwood build a $10 million aquatic center at Freedom Park on the city’s southwest side and also that it be paid for with special tax district dollars.
Committee chairman and council member Thom Hord made the recommendation at a standing-room-only meeting attended by more than 50 people, where the council voted to approve the plan for a new pool in the hope of opening it next year.
http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/local_story/Public-vote-unlikely-on-pool-_1344394282/
