Claremont
At Wednesday night’s council meeting, the consensus among the nine members was that a Charlestown Road TIF was an uncertain proposition and, given that the Downtown TIF has not produced the expected revenue, forcing annual debt payments onto the general tax rolls, councilors said now is not the time for another TIF.
“I’m very leery of TIF districts partly because of the Downtown TIF,” councilor Nick Koloski said.
The parcels in the proposed TIF would run from Highland View Road south along Charlestown Road/Route 11 to Grissom Lane and then west to the railroad tracks. Koloski did not see the potential for much development in that area.
“I would be concerned with this TIF producing,” he said.
A TIF, established under state law, is an economic development tool that allows New Hampshire municipalities to set up a geographic area with the potential for private commercial and industrial investment. The TIF’s assessed value is set as a baseline and the municipality usually undertakes infrastructure improvements, including road, water and sewer upgrades, with the expectation it will spur private development and raise the TIF’s assessed value above the baseline number.
Additional property tax revenue is used to pay the loans for the public infrastructure. Once the bonds are paid, the entire assessed value of the district goes back on the general tax rolls. In most TIFs, private development goes hand in hand with the public improvements so the additional tax revenue is certain.
If additional private investment does not cover the annual bond payments, then those payments have to come from taxes. The city’s River Road TIF, which expired June 30 with a significant surplus, is considered a success because it more than covered it expenses.
Under the TIF proposed by Santagate, there would be two 20-year bonds totaling $6.6 million. Most of the money, $4 million, would go toward road, sewer, drainage and other work on Charlestown Road from Highland View Road to Grissom Lane. The rest of the money would be used to widen and reconstruct Grissom Lane and extend the sewer from Dunkin’ Donuts on Charlestown Road to the railroad tracks on Grissom Lane.
Santagate said the proposal came out of council discussions about the Charlestown Road drainage problems and the council has only three options at its disposal to fund the work.
“We can put it on the tax rate, borrow the money or create a TIF,” he told the council. “We have a serious problem. We can attack it and fix it, or postpone it.”
The council was also concerned because the work would not address the drainage problems on Buena Vista, which runs off Charlestown Road.
But the biggest issue is the Downtown TIF.
“My focus now is on the Downtown TIF and closing out the River Road TIF before moving on to another TIF,” said Mayor Charlene Lovett.
Finance Director Mary Walter said the council could establish the TIF but not do any bonding until private development is more certain, which is what was done downtown. That TIF was created in 1998 but the bonds for improvements were in 2007, a year before millions of dollars in private sector investment was used to rehablitate three mill buildings.
Also Wednesday night, the council approved wording for proposed amendments to the city charter that will now go to voters. The major proposed change would end the residency requirement for the city’s police and fire chiefs and public works director and instead require that they live within 15 minutes travel time from their respective office.
A public hearing and vote has not been scheduled.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com
