By Jon Seidel/Post-Tribune staff writer
PORTAGE — The city will begin considering Thursday whether to give $15 million in bond proceeds to Bass Pro Shops as an incentive to locate in Portage.
Tim Healy, vice president of Holladay Properties, said the store has been relying on the money since it made the announcement last fall to locate in the city.
Holladay Properties owns Ameriplex at the Port, which is where Bass Pro Shops plans to locate. Ameriplex Northwest Partners L.P. is the group asking for the money, which Healy said would be passed on to Bass Pro Shops.
“The first step of the city doing its part is Thursday night,” Healy said.
Thursday is when the Portage Economic Development Commission will become the first city body to consider the proposal, which includes creating an economic development target area for Bass Pro Shops. An economic development target area would create a tax abatement situation for Bass Pro, city attorney Gregg Sobkowski said.
Traditional tax abatements can’t be passed for retail businesses, Sobkowski said.
As for the $15 million, Sobkowski said the money would be given to Ameriplex Partners in two parts, and it would be paid back through tax-increment financing proceeds.
In other words, the taxes that are generated by Bass Pro and the development it will spur would be pledged to pay back the city.
John Shepherd, the city’s economic adviser, said the proposal would move from the Economic Development Commission to the City Council, then to the Redevelopment Commission, and return to the City Council.
“It’s about a three-month process,” Shepherd said.