COLUMBUS, Ind. — Columbus officials are contemplating possible changes to the city’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts, including an expansion of the Central Allocation Area and the creation of a new TIF district downtown.
The Columbus Redevelopment Commission discussed these changes at its June 26 meeting but did not take any action.
A TIF district is a mechanism that allows the commission to siphon off increasing property taxes in a selected area to fund projects intended to benefit the community. There are currently six TIFs:
- Central — covers a wide range of land, including properties on the west side of the city, downtown and the Woodside/Walesboro area
- Airport — covers property in and around Columbus Municipal Airport
- Midtown — covers property in and around NexusPark
- Cummins — covers the Cummins Engine Plant
- South Commons — covers The Cole apartment complex
- Second and Lafayette — covers the land where The Taylor apartment complex is being developed
Most of the proposed changes would affect the Central TIF, which is the largest of the six areas. Redevelopment Director Heather Pope said that the department is proposing to absorb the Cummins and South Commons TIFs back into the Central TIF, as the commission recently finished paying off bonds that were tied to these areas.
They would also like to extend the Central TIF to include additional areas, such as commercial property along the State Street corridor.
“While we were out in that area, we looked at other possible locations that might need redevelopment’s help at some point in time,” said Pope. “We don’t know yet, but here is an industrially zoned piece of property in the old Bartholomew County industrial park. And then if you go up Marr Road here, there is the property south of the AMC Theater and some outparcels that are commercially zoned and have been vacant for years. And so we thought, if it’s ever redeveloped, we can capture that and put that in our TIF district as well.”
They also want to add property in northeast Columbus and the Woodside Northwest Industrial Park that has been annexed and rezoned for industrial use.
For the complete story, see Saturday’s Republic.
