Legislative Alert! Municipal Tax Increment Finance Bill Subject of Public Hearing on March 6
3/2/2015
CEDAS is teaming with the CT Main Street Center and the CT Chapter of the American Planners Association to recommend new legislation that will make the use of tax increment financing more attractive to local communities. A bill has been introduced to the Planning and Development Committee and we have drafted proposed legislation.
Some of the basic highlights are: 1) TIF districts would be created by the municipalities and would not require state approval; 2) the tax increments relate to municipal real estate taxes only – not any state taxes; 3) broadens the type of uses for the tax increment funds and 4) Unlike the current TIF statutes, allows the municipality to retain a portion of the TIF revenue to pay for increased governmental services related to the development.
The Planning and Development Committee will hold a public hearing on the TIF bill and others on Friday, March 6, 2015 at 11:00 A.M. in Room 1E of the LOB. Public speaker order will be determined by a lottery system. Lottery numbers will be drawn from 9:30 A.M. to 10:45 A.M. in Room 2B of the LOB. Speakers arriving after the completion of the lottery will have their names placed at the end of the speaker list. Please submit 30 copies of written testimony to Committee staff at 9:30 A.M. in Room 2B of the LOB. Testimony received after the designated time may not be distributed until after the hearing. Please email written testimony in Word or PDF format to PDtestimony@cga.ct.gov. Testimony should clearly state testifier name and related Bills. The Committee requests that testimony be limited to matters related to the items on the Agenda. The first hour of the hearing is reserved for Legislators, Constitutional Officers, State Agency Heads and Chief Elected Municipal Officials. Speakers will be limited to three minutes of testimony. The Committee encourages witnesses to submit a written statement and to condense oral testimony to a summary of that statement. Unofficial sign-up sheets have no standing with the Committee. All public hearing testimony, written and spoken, is public information. As such, it will be made available on the CGA website and indexed by internet search engines.
Track the progress on this bill...
See CMSC legislative alert on this bill...
We have a real opportunity to add to the municipal economic development tool box with the adoption of this TIF legislation. Please testify on Friday and contact your legislators and let them know you support this bill.
