INVEST IN OUR DOWNTOWNS’ FUTURE TODAY: Senate Bill 677 “An Act Establishing Tax Incremental Financing Districts”
5/20/2015
Now that SB 677-A AN ACT ESTABLISHING TAX INCREMENTAL FINANCING DISTRICTS has passed the Senate, CEDAS is championing the bill and work for a favorable vote in the House. CEDAS, CT Main Street Center and CT Chapter of the American Planners Association all support this bill. We have developed a broad coalition 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.
We know there are many items on the legislative docket to tackle and so we encourage the Legislature to move this meaningful legislation forward.
Bill Tracking status:
http://cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&bill_num=SB-677
More information:
