SOUTH BEND — The Department of Community Investment is proposing changes to the city’s tax increment finance, or TIF, districts in order to better meet the city’s economic development needs, reduce the negative impact of property tax caps and lower the burden on taxpayers.
The Redevelopment Commission will consider the changes this morning, followed by the Area Plan Commission and Common Council in September, Executive Director of Community Investment Scott Ford said Wednesday.
Assuming adoption by those three bodies, the changes will then come back to the Redevelopment Commission for final approval in October, Ford said, taking effect at the beginning of next year.
Among the proposed changes, drafted by Community Investment staff with input from the law firm of Faegre Baker Daniels and H.J. Umbaugh and Associates, a public consulting firm:
• The Airport Economic Development Area would be expanded to include Lincoln Way West and Western Avenue as well as the old Drewrys property and those portions of the South Bend Central (downtown) and Central Medical (Memorial Hospital) Development areas west of the St. Joseph River. The CMDA will be retired a year earlier than its 2015 scheduled date.
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