LEGISLATIVE ALERT! CEDAS HIGHEST LEGISLATIVE PRIORITY THIS SESSION
4/15/2015
CEDAS highest legislative priority this session remains SB 677-A AN ACT ESTABLISHING TAX INCREMENTAL FINANCING DISTRICTS.
CEDAS has developed a broad coalition of support for this bill among municipalities, planners, economic development professionals and downtown revitalization executives and volunteers.
S.B. 677 would encourage the use of incremental property taxes to construct public infrastructure, to promote development and redevelopment opportunities and to expand municipal tax bases. Compared to some other states, TIF's in CT are extremely hard to implement (especially for small projects) but TIF's can be a very effective tool for economic revitalization if they are done right. New TIF legislation could benefit a wider variety of projects consistent with planning goals for responsible growth.
The proposed TIF statute would:
1) Be streamlined. A recent survey showed that TIF's are too hard to get adopted to be a useful economic development tool in most communities.
2) Be flexible. Tax increments could be used for a variety of purposes such as downtown revitalization, transit-oriented development, incentive housing developments, and even park and streetscape improvements.
3) Create TIF districts for neighborhoods rather than be used solely for large development projects.
4) Put municipalities in control. TIF's are based on local property taxes and should only need local approval.
Please contact your legislators and ask them to support SB 677.
The Policy Committee is tracking another piece of legislation that could have far-reaching economic development impacts - HB 6851 - AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE CONNECTICUT TRANSIT CORRIDOR DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY. We are awaiting revised bill language before determining whether to endorse this legislation.
