ACTION REQUESTED:
Title
Communication from the City Manager with a Request to ADOPT an ORDINANCE Amending Ordinance No. 17,016, Relating to Establishing PROPERTY TAX ABATEMENT as a RIVER EDGE REDEVELOPMENT ZONE Incentive.
Body
BACKGROUND:
The City of Peoria established its River Edge Redevelopment Zone (RERZ) in 2013 after a change in state law added Peoria as the fifth eligible city. In order to create the RERZ boundaries, the City had to amend its Enterprise Zone boundaries so that property was not in both types as Zones. Within the RERZ program, communities are allowed to abate property tax on increment generated by investment in the same way as in the Enterprise Zone. This property tax abatement is not available for property that is also located in a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District. When the RERZ was created, the property tax incentive was not included in the underlying ordinance.
In reviewing Peoria's RERZ, staff has identified a small number of parcels that are in the RERZ but not within a TIF. The attached map shows this small area. For these properties, neither TIF benefits nor the RERZ property tax abatement is currently available as an incentive for development. The attached ordinance amends the RERZ ordinance to include property tax abatement. The incentive is identical to the one that was included in the City's recent Enterprise Zone application: 100% for the first three years and 50% for the next two years. If approved, the abatement would be limited to the City's portion of the property tax bill. City staff will be working with other taxing districts to offer a similar abatement. In the Enterprise Zone, for example, every taxing district except School District 150 participates in the incentive.
FINANCIAL IMPACT: Unknown but not substantial. The area in question is very small but has some valuable opportunities for development. The City would only be abating a portion of its property taxes to a limited number ...
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