01-08-2025 Workshop Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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HED-14 TAX INCREMENT FINANCING (TIF) Metro Cities supports: •Increased funding for the Job Skills Partnership, youth employment programs and other workforce training programs administered by the state that lead to jobs that provide a living wage and benefits, support workers of all abilities, and help address racial disparity gaps in employment; •Innovative workforce programs and partnerships that foster workforce readiness for a full range of jobs and careers, including skilled municipal jobs and current high opportunity areas such as manufacturing and construction; •Investments in programs that address the gender wage gap, including training for women to enter nontraditional careers; •A payroll tax credit for job training programs that invest in employees; and •A city’s authority to tie workforce requirements to local public finance assistance. Tax Increment Financing (TIF) continues to be the primary tool available for local communities to assist economic development, redevelopment, and housing. Over time, statutory changes have made this critical tool increasingly difficult to use. At the same time, federal and state development and redevelopment resources have been steadily shrinking. The cumulative impact of TIF restrictions, shrinking federal and state redevelopment resources and highly restrictive eminent domain laws constrain cities’ abilities to address problem properties, which leads to an accelerated level of decline of developed cities in the metropolitan area. Thus, the only source of revenue available to accomplish the scope of redevelopment necessary is the value created by the redevelopment itself, or the “increment.” Without the use of the increment, development will either not occur or is unlikely to be optimal. Metro Cities urges the Legislature to: •Not adopt any statutory language that would further constrain or directly or indirectly reduce the effectiveness of TIF; •Not adopt any statutory language that would allow a county, school district or special taxing district to opt out of a TIF district; •Incorporate the Soils Correction District criteria into the Redevelopment District criteria so that a Redevelopment District can be comprised of blighted and contaminated parcels in addition to railroad property; •Expand the flexibility of TIF to support a broader range of redevelopment projects; •Allow and authorize tax increment financing, including property in existing TIF districts, to support the conversion of existing commercial non-residential property, including vacant properties, into multi-family housing or new types of uses that support economic growth for metropolitan cities;53