From the North Vernon Plain-Dealer:
It may be an embarrassing mistake but it was apparently caught in the nick of time.
Jennings County government officials learned last week that the county already has a tax increment financing (TIF) district.
While several elected officials may have a bit of egg on their faces, the good news is the mistake reportedly can be easily rectified and, better yet, the county will save money.
The Jennings County Council and county commissioners met jointly on April 25, announcing then that the county planned to form a TIF district, unaware that the county already created a district seven years ago. Sue Beesley, an Indianapolis attorney and former Jennings County resident, read the story on the county's TIF plans in this newspaper and contacted Commissioner Matt Sporleder (R-District 3) about the previous TIF.
Beesley, the attorney involved in the formation of the original TIF, also attended the commissioners' meeting Thursday, May 9, to explain the county's options.
"You don't need a new ordinance," she said. "Of course you can dissolve the old TIF and recreate it. That is up to you."
Beesley said the county could change the TIF district's area to coincide with what commissioners and councilors proposed last month - a district that would include areas around the U.S. 50 bypass now under construction, especially where the new highway will intersect SR 7 and SR 3.
"That (keeping the original TIF ordinance) makes sense to me," Sporleder said. "This will put us ahead of the game. Why would we want to reinvent the wheel and spend more money?"
The Board of Commissioners and County Council agreed 21/2 weeks ago to hire Dennis Otten, another Indianapolis attorney, to help create the TIF at a fee of $400 per hour up to $15,000 total. Sporleder and Dave Kopitzke (R-District 4), council president, signed a letter of intent with Otten then, but it apparently is not binding.
Beesley said it would be simple to change the TIF area in the 2006 ordinance.
"You'll probably want to make new appointments to your redevelopment council (TIF board), too," she advised. "I would love to work with you."
Under current state law, TIF districts can capture property taxes for 25 years when they then must be disbanded. (The City of North Vernon's TIF district, which was formed in 1993, operates under the rules of a previous law that allows it to continue until its bonds are paid.)
"For the county, the clock doesn't start running until the TIF issues bonds (borrows money)," Beesley said.
The original county TIF ordinance set up an area adjacent to the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in Butlerville where officials hoped to recruit firms associated with the military. No companies ever located there and thus no property taxes were ever captured by TIF.
Bob Willhite (R-District 1) was a county commissioner in 2006 when the TIF ordinance was created. After losing a re-election bid in 2008, Willhite was elected back as a commissioner last year.
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