The city of St. Joseph is planning a workshop for this week to explain a development tool it’s seeking to bring back to the downtown area after a roughly 40-year absence.
TIF stands for “tax increment financing,” and is a term we’ve heard a lot lately around Berrien County as the establishment of TIF districts has been used to help developers recoup costs.
St. Joseph Development Director Kelly Ewalt tells us city leaders will be joined by Cornerstone Alliance on Wednesday to explain how TIFs work as the Downtown Development Authority considers their use and the public has questions. So, how does a TIF work?
“Basically, what that does is it sets a baseline tax rate in the downtown district,” Ewalt said. “So whatever it is for 2025, that will be set as the baseline as new developments or improvements in the downtown area come in that incremental growth in the tax base will be recaptured by the DDA to be reinvested in that district.”
Ewalt says tax increment financing does not create any new taxes. It just captures tax dollar growth over time.
Ewalt will be joined by Cornerstone Alliance Vice President of Business Development Andrew Haan this Wednesday for the open house to be held at St. Joseph City Hall from 4 to 6 p.m.
The city tells us TIFs have not been used to spur development downtown since the 1980s.
