At that meeting, City Administrator Clay Johnson said the city
had $300,000 remaining from the TIF bond issuance last year. A
portion of that could be used to issue the TIF award for the
Broadway Street project.
At that time, the council appeared to be in full agreement to go
ahead and grant the Lanterman request. Michelle Bauer said that she
was hopeful that by granting Lanterman's request, it would open the
door to other businesses to do likewise. She mentioned that when the
TIF bond was issued, there were folks who thought it had been done
solely to benefit the construction of the Lincoln Grand 8 Theater.
While the new request was the same owner, it was a different
location and new potential to grow downtown commerce as the building
being renovated is currently vacant and an eyesore.
At this week’s voting session, however, Johnson took a step back
from what he had said on the 24th. He explained that he had not been
informed that the remaining $300,000 had been earmarked for
streetscape improvements by the city after the theater is completed.
He said that if the city wanted to move forward with granting this
new request, aldermen would need to decide how to provide the money.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Apr/08/images/ads/current/Applegate_exc_sda_daily_030415.png) The city of Lincoln voted to create a TIF District in the downtown
area in 2013. Last year, Lanterman, as a member of the MMIL
Properties Inc. applied for $2,000,000 from the TIF for the
construction of the Lincoln Grand 8 Theater.
Funding the theater would benefit the city in that the dollars would
be used to improve the downtown area and make the city more
attractive to new business. The city would also gain financially by
the increase in property tax assessments between the vacant lot and
old buildings and the new construction.
On the application for the Broadway site, Lanterman documented the
property tax as currently being $1,258.00 per year. He also stated
that he expected that with the exterior work, plus interior
renovations that are planned, the property tax assessment will
double when the work is completed. If the tax assessment were to
double to $2,516, the city of Lincoln would be able to collect the
difference for the next 20 years. Estimating that at $1,258 per year
(with no tax increases considered), the city would collect at the
end of the term a total of $25,160.00, more than enough to pay
itself back on the initial investment.
On Monday evening, referring to the expected revenues from the
theater project, it was noted that to date, there haven’t been any
increases in the taxes, as the construction is still underway.
Therefore, the city hasn’t collected any dollars that it can invest
back into future TIF projects.
The question at hand then, was should the city move forward, and if
so, where would the money come from? Jonie Tibbs spoke up saying
that because the city is just now working on the new fiscal year
budget, she felt that this project should “come to a screeching
halt” until the city has determined where it stands for the next 12
months.
[to top of second column] |
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Todd Mourning asked city treasurer, Chuck Conzo, if he could see any
money in the city’s general fund to go ahead with the request. Conzo
said there was not a lot of money anywhere in the city coffers.
However, he also said that in regard to the $300,000, yes it had
been earmarked for street improvements, but there had been no
ordinance passed designating the money had to go to that purpose. He
also noted that the $300,000 was an estimate of what the streetscape
improvements cost; it was possible that not all of that money would
not be needed.
Michelle Bauer said she was struggling with the idea of saying no to
this request. She said if they stop promoting the TIF program until
it is funded, then the city would be putting all future projects on
hold for at least the next five years. She said the TIF fund is not
going to fund itself overnight, and the city needed to find a means
of keeping it going. She concluded, “If we say no, we’re going
backward. We need to look at setting aside funds for the TIF. We
need to move forward. We need to put our money where our mouth is.”
Conzo also commented that with the bond that is already in place,
payments are going to need to be made that include principal and
interest. Those payments in the first years are going to exceed what
the city is collecting through the property tax. He said that making
those payments in the first few years would mean taking money from
the city’s general fund.
Johnson said this was another reason for moving forward with new
projects. He noted that the faster the city invests in TIF projects,
the faster they will see a return in property tax revenues.
The city has the option of issuing another bond to finance TIF
projects, or finding the money in the current budget to earmark for
TIF investments.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Apr/08/images/ads/current/graueinc_generic_sda.png)
In the end, Scott Cooper said that the item on the agenda should be
tabled for the time being. Cooper made that motion, and it was
seconded by Jeff Hoinacki. The vote to table carried unanimously.
It should be noted that of the sitting aldermen, only four -
Hoinacki, Kathy Horn, Marty Neitzel, and Tibbs - were in office when
the TIF program was created. A portion of Cooper’s reason for
tabling the TIF request was that he felt the aldermen needed a
better understanding of the program and how it worked.
[Nila Smith] |