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TIF reimbursements, rodeo discussed at Authority board meeting
Norma Engelberg
At the Nov. 18 Woodland Park Downtown Development Authority board meeting, executive director Beth Kosley talked about formalizing the process used by developers to apply for tax increment funding reimbursements.
Tax Increment Funding, usually abbreviated TIF, is one of the mechanisms used by development authorities to pay their bills. The tax increment is the difference between the value of a property when the authority started — its baseline value — and its value after development or improvement.
Taxes levied on the baseline value go to the original taxing districts and entities — city, county and water, fire protection, library and other often overlapping districts. Taxes on the increment go to the authority while it has jurisdiction, usually 27 years unless an extension is approved, at which time the baseline value resets to a higher level.
The authority can reimburse some of the tax increment collected on a property to the developer as an incentive to bring in a new business. Until now the process used by the authority to decide which incoming developers might receive a reimbursement has been fairly informal but Kosley wants to change that.
“As I understand it, right now developers bring in a concept and if you like it you send them back to create a more developed plan,” Kosley said.
“It’s about that sketchy,” said authority board member Steve Randolph. “There have been times when we’ve used the backs of envelopes.”
“I want to tighten that up,” Kosley said. “At a minimum a project should come in with at least a description of the developer’s intent, a probable outcome and maybe a concept drawing.”
“Our intent was to decide if a project has merit before asking the developer to go the cost of creating a more detailed plan,” said city manager David Buttery. “There is a big difference between an architectural rendering and a simple sketch.”
“All I would like is some kind of visual aid, not necessarily a full rendering,” Kosley said. “Then we can look at the next step — does the concept match the [authority’s] foundation goals?”
“When a concept comes in we look at three criteria — is it a people generator, a jobs generator or a sales tax generator,” Buttery said. “Some projects meet all three criteria but if it meets at least one we give the developer the go-ahead to move on the next step.”
Kosley said her intent is to take some of the unknowns out of the process.
“People want predictability,” she said. “They want to know what they need to submit and the possible outcomes.”
Projects manager Bob Harvey said he could format a document that can be used as a checklist for new projects.
On the subject of the property, land and space inventory, Harvey said he has found an online database service that could be used as a jumping off point for tracking vacant spaces that might be for sale or rent in the community.
“We’ve checked and the database has been fairly accurate so far.” he said. “I would like for us to become subscribers to this service. We can use this database as a foundation but keeping our face-to-face contact with the public.”
The space inventory is fairly labor intensive and if the database can be used, it would be a cost-effective way to keep track of local spaces available, Kosley said. The subscription would cost about $100 a month but would drastically cut the amount of time Harvey has to devote to keeping the inventory up to date.
Harvey has about 20 volunteers for the business focus groups he is forming. They will be able to sign up to focus on one or more of nine subjects. A task force will be formed later to study and perhaps implement solutions found by the focus groups, he said.
Harvey and Kosley also plan to conduct a consumer survey and collect market data and other information about the community.
“We have a vacuum of information right now,” he said. “We’re trying to fill it but the time of year is starting to get in the way. We have to either get these things done now or we can expect them to take a couple of months.”
Board vice chair Merry Jo Larsen, in her capacity as a member of Woodland Retail Alliance, asked about the possibility that the Woodland Station site will be available for a rodeo the last weekend in June.
“It’s the 60th anniversary of the Ute Trail Stampede,” she said. “We have interest out there and the stock contractors we have lined up are members of the Colorado Professional Cowboy Association. ... I don’t want to move forward on this until I know the land will be available at the end of June.”
The other board members and Kosley agreed that there could be some problem making a commitment for a rodeo on the site next summer.
“We’re about 90 percent ready to go,” Kosley said. “We’ll know by the beginning of the year if we’re going to start installing infrastructure. I’d be really concerned about that.”
“So we’ll just say ‘no?’” Larsen asked.
“I think it’s too risky to say ‘yes,’” Buttery answered.
When asked by Buttery about the Woodland Park Saddle Club site at the lagoons, Larsen said she would explore the possibility but was worried about debris, such as rocks and chunks of cement, that might be harmful to the horses.
“I’ll ask our contractors if they can hold that date until after the first of January when I should know if there will be a space available,” she said.
“The economy is so fragile right now that I would hate to do anything that would jeopardize the start of construction,” said authority board member Jon DeVaux.
The next scheduled authority board meeting is Dec. 2.
At the Nov. 18 Woodland Park Downtown Development Authority board meeting, executive director Beth Kosley talked about formalizing the process used by developers to apply for tax increment funding reimbursements.
Tax Increment Funding, usually abbreviated TIF, is one of the mechanisms used by development authorities to pay their bills. The tax increment is the difference between the value of a property when the authority started — its baseline value — and its value after development or improvement.
Taxes levied on the baseline value go to the original taxing districts and entities — city, county and water, fire protection, library and other often overlapping districts. Taxes on the increment go to the authority while it has jurisdiction, usually 27 years unless an extension is approved, at which time the baseline value resets to a higher level.
The authority can reimburse some of the tax increment collected on a property to the developer as an incentive to bring in a new business. Until now the process used by the authority to decide which incoming developers might receive a reimbursement has been fairly informal but Kosley wants to change that.
“As I understand it, right now developers bring in a concept and if you like it you send them back to create a more developed plan,” Kosley said.
“It’s about that sketchy,” said authority board member Steve Randolph. “There have been times when we’ve used the backs of envelopes.”
“I want to tighten that up,” Kosley said. “At a minimum a project should come in with at least a description of the developer’s intent, a probable outcome and maybe a concept drawing.”
“Our intent was to decide if a project has merit before asking the developer to go the cost of creating a more detailed plan,” said city manager David Buttery. “There is a big difference between an architectural rendering and a simple sketch.”
“All I would like is some kind of visual aid, not necessarily a full rendering,” Kosley said. “Then we can look at the next step — does the concept match the [authority’s] foundation goals?”
“When a concept comes in we look at three criteria — is it a people generator, a jobs generator or a sales tax generator,” Buttery said. “Some projects meet all three criteria but if it meets at least one we give the developer the go-ahead to move on the next step.”
Kosley said her intent is to take some of the unknowns out of the process.
“People want predictability,” she said. “They want to know what they need to submit and the possible outcomes.”
Projects manager Bob Harvey said he could format a document that can be used as a checklist for new projects.
On the subject of the property, land and space inventory, Harvey said he has found an online database service that could be used as a jumping off point for tracking vacant spaces that might be for sale or rent in the community.
“We’ve checked and the database has been fairly accurate so far.” he said. “I would like for us to become subscribers to this service. We can use this database as a foundation but keeping our face-to-face contact with the public.”
The space inventory is fairly labor intensive and if the database can be used, it would be a cost-effective way to keep track of local spaces available, Kosley said. The subscription would cost about $100 a month but would drastically cut the amount of time Harvey has to devote to keeping the inventory up to date.
Harvey has about 20 volunteers for the business focus groups he is forming. They will be able to sign up to focus on one or more of nine subjects. A task force will be formed later to study and perhaps implement solutions found by the focus groups, he said.
Harvey and Kosley also plan to conduct a consumer survey and collect market data and other information about the community.
“We have a vacuum of information right now,” he said. “We’re trying to fill it but the time of year is starting to get in the way. We have to either get these things done now or we can expect them to take a couple of months.”
Board vice chair Merry Jo Larsen, in her capacity as a member of Woodland Retail Alliance, asked about the possibility that the Woodland Station site will be available for a rodeo the last weekend in June.
“It’s the 60th anniversary of the Ute Trail Stampede,” she said. “We have interest out there and the stock contractors we have lined up are members of the Colorado Professional Cowboy Association. ... I don’t want to move forward on this until I know the land will be available at the end of June.”
The other board members and Kosley agreed that there could be some problem making a commitment for a rodeo on the site next summer.
“We’re about 90 percent ready to go,” Kosley said. “We’ll know by the beginning of the year if we’re going to start installing infrastructure. I’d be really concerned about that.”
“So we’ll just say ‘no?’” Larsen asked.
“I think it’s too risky to say ‘yes,’” Buttery answered.
When asked by Buttery about the Woodland Park Saddle Club site at the lagoons, Larsen said she would explore the possibility but was worried about debris, such as rocks and chunks of cement, that might be harmful to the horses.
“I’ll ask our contractors if they can hold that date until after the first of January when I should know if there will be a space available,” she said.
“The economy is so fragile right now that I would hate to do anything that would jeopardize the start of construction,” said authority board member Jon DeVaux.
The next scheduled authority board meeting is Dec. 2.
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