DUNKIRK — The city is moving ahead to become a Stellar designated community.

Mayor Gene Ritter informed Dunkirk City Council on Monday evening that he wants to form a redevelopment committee to create a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district in the city, a step that should aid in the process of getting a future Stellar Communities designation that the city finished as the runner-up for last year.

The mayor will serve on the redevelopment committee, a group required for the formation of a TIF district, and also appointed local residents Gary Glogas and Ron Fuller. Council agreed to appoint Brenda Brumfield, Tim Kesler and council member Jesse Bivens.

“We feel that we were so close last year … so we feel like we need to take that momentum and carry it forward and try to do a couple things that we were told could've helped us get that designation,” said Ritter. “So we are going (to) go forward with it.”

Dunkirk finished second in August to North Liberty in the competition for communities with populations of fewer than 6,000 for the Stellar Communities designation through Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs. Winning would have provided millions in grants and tax credits for projects in the city.

Ritter has contacted municipal attorney Sue Beasley of Bingham Greenebaum Doll, an Indianapolis law firm, to help with the process at an approximate cost of $20,000.

The mayor said the redevelopment committee will designate a business area to pull into the TIF district, current tax rates will stay the same and added tax benefits would go into a fund that would go toward redevelopment of the area.

“It would help bring new business and jobs into the city and if you have a really strong community you’re more likely to get companies wanting to come here and enjoy that strength of community,” Ritter said.
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