The Menomonee Falls Village Board approved the creation and funding of an economic development master fund for the village’s ninth Tax Incremental Finance (TIF) district July 19.
TIF 9 covers the Village Centre area and selected nearby properties. TIF districts are where taxes normally collected by local units of government are instead used to pay for infrastructure improvements. The local units of government later benefit from the added value generated by the improvements.
Village Manager Mark Fitzgerald said an economic development master fund existed in TIF 2, which is also located in Village Centre. Fitzgerald said the Community Development Authority wanted to create an economic development master fund for TIF 9.
Fitzgerald explained that in addition to the loan component that is created by the master fund, a grant program will also be created for property improvements. Under the grant program, a property owner can receive up to $20,000 for improvements that approved in advance by the CDA. While the project is approved in advance, the payment doesn’t happen until after the project is completed and will cover half the cost of the improvements.
With approval of the master fund program, Fitzgerald said the CDA will seek to promote “small doses of property improvements throughout the TIF 9 area.”
Fitzgerald said the master fund for TIF 2 will handle existing accounts until that TIF expires in 2013 while all new activity will be covered by the TIF 9 master fund program.
Fitzgerald said CDA has oversight over the master fund.
Trustee Dennis Farrell said he felt “uncomfortable that it doesn’t go before an elected board that represents the people, it goes before an (unelected) board. I have no problems with the (CDA) board, but down the line things could be different.”
The fund was approved by trustees Michael McDonald, Jim Jeskewitz, Jeff Steliga and Steve Raymonds while Farrell dissented. Village President Randy Newman and Trustee Sharon Ellis were not present at the meeting.
—By Thomas J. McKillen, Managing Editor