From the Indianapolis Star:
There's a time for study and there's a time for action when it comes to tax-incremental financing, and the time for both is now.
Skeptics are right to call for a general assessment of this significant tool of commercial revitalization. But two and possibly three specific projects show a great deal of merit, and the City-County Council has waited long enough to give investors a yes or no.
The Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee is scheduled to vote Friday on Proposal 15, which it approved and amended in August but was instructed to reconsider by the full council.
Unfortunately, Mayor Greg Ballard's efforts to expand the Downtown TIF district to include sections of Massachusetts and Indiana avenues has been delayed by protracted discussions that have developers and neighborhoods in limbo.
TIFs lock in property tax levels for a period and retain some of the revenue within the target area. Used well, they replenish blighted and stagnant areas. Critics say they deprive schools and libraries of needed funds -- and that, in Indy's case, they have been pushed through without enough public input or cost-benefit analysis.
The latter complaints also have a partisan tinge and are moot when it comes to Proposal 15. Many months of deliberations have accrued, and the projects pass muster.
Mass Ave. involves replacing a fire station, which doesn't pay taxes, with private enterprise. The 16-Tech venture would make Indiana Avenue a life-sciences corridor, harboring one of the city's most promising industries.
Meanwhile, merchants, community leaders and elected officials in the Midtown area stretching several miles north of 16th Street seek TIF inclusion for grass-roots rejuvenation of a sector that is diverse, viable but in many parts struggling. They have much to offer a city that has not done well by its neighborhoods, and they ask a fraction of what Downtown developers are used to in terms of tax help.
Responding to a study commission report, the council has committed to taking a hard look at TIFs overall. That mission need not conflict with the current task: End the delay and approve Proposal 15 before the investors walk away; and let the Midtown stakeholders have their shot.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012209270370
