ANDERSON – For many years the city of Anderson has utilized tax increment financing funds to make infrastructure improvements as a means of luring new private investment.
But as more and more projects have been financed with tax increment financing (TIF), including the planned NTN Driveshaft project, improvements to Jackson Street, Greenville Technology Inc., and the 59th Street roundabout, the funding source is becoming limited.
The Anderson Redevelopment Commission, which allocates TIF funds, is looking at setting priorities for future projects as the available funds decline.
City Controller Jason Fenwick said there is still $10 million to $13 million available until the city reaches the debt limit.
The city is estimating it will spend $9.3 million to $9.5 million in TIF funds to purchase land and make infrastructure improvements for the NTN facility.
In the past two years the Redevelopment Commission has approved $10.3 million, not including the NTN project.
TIF districts are created so that property taxes from new commercial, industrial and manufacturing businesses are captured and spent on infrastructure improvements within the district or to benefit the district. Those improvements are then used as an economic development tool to lure more businesses to the city.
Local taxing units continue to receive the amount of property taxes when there was no development on vacant ground.
Most of the city of Anderson is included in a comprehensive TIF district with four allocation areas that include the Flagship Enterprise Center, the former Guide property, Nestle, and the Pay Less Super Market at 29th and Main streets.
Kevin Sulc, vice president of the Redevelopment Commission, said a lot has been done recently, all good projects.
“There are projects that several people would like to see done,” he said. “For Operation Downtown there may not be TIF funds available.”
Operation Downtown is a long-range plan proposed by the administration of Mayor Kevin Smith to revitalize the city’s central business district.
Sulc said the Redevelopment Commission, which oversees TIF spending, can’t spend all the available cash.
“We’ve been cautious as we’ve gone along,” he said of TIF spending. “There may come a time we will have to vote no on projects we really don’t want to say no on.”
Sulc said the Redevelopment Commission has to look carefully at future spending requests.
“This is a dose of reality,” he said.
Carolyn Scott, president of the commission, said they have to start setting priorities on what the commission wants to accomplish in the future.
“We want to do what is in the best interest of the city, including the west side is important,” she said. “We have to have something for our kids.”
Member Joe Royer said the commission sometimes comes across as a “rubber stamp,” but that is not the way it operates.
“This is a big step,” Royer said of the NTN project. “It might tie our hands in the future. We have to be more thoughtful in the future.”
ARC members are considering conducting a public workshop in the near future to set priority for TIF funding.