Changes to the City of Platteville’s Tax Incremental Financing districts are moving ahead after two sets of approvals in the past week.
The Common Council July 23 unanimously approved five sets of changes to four of the city’s TIF districts, moving revenue from two districts with positive cash flow into two other districts currently running deficits. The votes also add properties into one TIF district and move properties from one TIF district into another.
The Joint Review Board, made up of representatives of the Platteville School District, Grant County and Southwest Wisconsin Technical College, unanimously approved the changes in a 45-minute-long meeting Monday afternoon.
The city faced a mid-August deadline to approve the changes to get them submitted to the state Department of Revenue. The state maximum TIF district size of 12 percent of equalized property value is set to be exceeded when the Emmi Roth USA cheese plant is added next year.
A TIF district allows a city or village to develop “blighted” or undeveloped land, financed by the growth of the value of the property within the district. That growth only goes to the municipality — the City of Platteville in this case — and not to the school district, technical college district or county until the TIF district closes.
The changes move revenue from TID 4, the Platteville Industry Park, to TID 6, the Industry Park expansion, to pay for infrastructure improvements in TID 6. The changes also move revenue from TID 5, the Keystone Development, to TID 7 downtown.
The TID changes were made in part because TIDs 4 and 5 had a combined surplus of $108,917, but TIDs 6 and 7 had a combined deficit of $482,706 in 2012, according to the city’s 2012 audit. The city still netted $302,351 on its TIF districts in 2012, adding in Downtown Redevelopment Authority revenues and expenses.
TID 6 is growing by adding six properties — L&M Corrugated Container Corp., 32 Means Dr.; the vacant lot at HyPro, 1000 Phillips Road; the vacant property at 555 E. Business 151; the former Stoneman’s Mill property, 1540 Vision Dr.; Timmerman Supply Inc., which is moving from Kieler to 355 Enterprise Dr.; and the former Swiss Valley Farms property at 1085 E. Mineral St.
The TID 7 changes are for an estimated $18.07 million in project work, including $2 million in parking improvements, $1.95 million in street and sewer improvements, and nearly $7 million from redevelopment projects, to add $42.5 million in new property value by 2023, increasing the area’s property value to $72.09 million by 2023. That in turn is estimated to increase the area’s yearly property tax revenue from $64,000 in 2013 to $1.57 million in 2033.
TID 7 is growing by adding 24 properties, on Alden Avenue, Chestnut Street, Elm Street, Furnace Street, Mineral Street, Oak Street, West Main Street, Pine Street, Rountree Avenue, Second Street. The properties include the Platteville Public Library, homes, parking lots, and several business locations.
The TID 7 plan would convert property bordered by Mineral Street, Elm Street, Pine Street and Chestnut Street from a combination of residential, commercial and undeveloped land to “mixed-use” and commercial, including the Library Block, bordered by West Pine, South Elm, West Main and South Chestnut streets.
