City moves cautiously on residential TIF district, insurance
consultant to review all city policies, and Fifth Street Road
agreement in process
[APRIL 13, 2006]
TIF district
The city has agreed to hire Jack B. Teplitz, an attorney who
specializes in setting up tax increment financing districts. Teplitz
spoke to the council on March 28 and discussed the request for a TIF
made by a Bloomington firm, Central Illinois Properties. He walked
council members through the steps they should be taking and spoke
about the benefits of a TIF and the hazards to try to avoid
A TIF district is a program for economic development purposes. It
must be approved by the state of Illinois. Teplitz explained the
combination of factors that must be met for a property or area to
qualify.
The developer has said that they have been working with
engineers, and there are factors that would qualify the property,
which is located on Fifth Street west of Lincoln. In particular it
contributions to flooding in the area, which they plan to address
with retention ponds.
Teplitz questioned one point that was presented to the council by
the lawyer for the developer. He said that a TIF cannot be set up to
allocate money to just one government entity, such as the school
district. The city portion of tax increases in the district can be
negotiated to any rate, but those funds must still be redistributed
equally to all government entities in the percentages that are
already set.
He also said that the current proposal asks the city to pay for
all the engineering design for the subdivision. The city should pay
only for the portion of the design that would encompass the
infrastructure the city is responsible for.
Teplitz's advice for the first step in the process is to be sure
that the property will qualify. The city is in the process of
requesting the engineering data to prove the property qualifies
before proceeding.
When that has been acquired, council members agreed they would
like to move forward, with Teplitz representing the city's
interests. They agreed to Teplitz's $200-per-hour rate offer, which
is lower for government entities.
Insurance consultant to review all city policies
A new insurance consultant is being recommended by the insurance
committee. Chair Kathy Horn said that they have been meeting with
Fred Danner. If Danner took over at this time, he would review all
policies and renewals for this year and prepare and review bid
documents for next year. His contract would be for 13 months and
would cover two renewal periods. He would charge $10,500 for this
initial work, which includes a lot of review of policies.
The former consultant, who was canceled more than a year ago for
questionable practices, was paid $4,800 per year. She refunded the
last year's pay. So there are funds available on that line from
2004-2005 and the current year to begin the process with Danner,
City Clerk Melanie Riggs said.
Question about the higher fee drew a couple of responses. In
response to the amount Debbra Callan was paid, city attorney Bill
Bates said, "We since found out what we got for that money." In
communications he had with Danner it was pointed out that the 13
months covers two renewal periods, a bidding process that would take
place for the 2006-2007 year and midyear activities, Bates said.
Alderman Buzz Busby pointed out that the work that Danner would
be doing is like reviewing two years' work. If you were to double
the $4,800, that's pretty close to what he is proposing.
Alderman Wanda Lee Rohlfs commented that the fee would probably
be worthy with the professional knowledge that comes with it.
Approval to hire Danner is on next Monday's agenda.
Fifth Street
An intergovernmental agreement with Logan County to renovate
Fifth Street Road is in process. The road from Lincoln Parkway to
Middletown is seen as the top priority to economic development for
the area. It has been on hold for lack of funding for a number of
years. Meetings began earlier this year between city and county
officials to try to get the portion of roadwork from the parkway to
approximately Interstate 55 under way. The city of Lincoln has
assumed more and more portions of that road over the last few years
with annexations, the most recent being Sysco. Yet portions of the
roadway are still under the county.
If the proposed TIF district were approved, that would help fund
that portion of Fifth Street. The district boundaries can be set as
the city would decide and could envelop more than the area of the
proposed residential subdivision at the southwest corner of Forest
Hills Road.
