Carl Malysz's lost comment at "Are you TIF enough?"

Last night, Carl Malysz left a comment on the post, "Are you TIF enough?" This morning it was gone; I've been asked why, and I don't know.

As blog administrator, I am notified by e-mail when comments are posted, and the notification came through fine. Later, the space was blank. The good news is that for the fist time in two weeks, the "compose" screen here works properly. At any rate, here is the lost comment from Carl Malysz:

According to my sources on the City Council, the Resolution for River View will not be acted upon this coming Thursday, April 21st. That said, I will not post Q&A on the City's website until a later time. However, I will attempt to clarify what is in process with River View right now.

Mainland Properties is asking the City to issue Economic Development Bonds (EDBs) through an ordinance adopted by the Common Council. The process includes a public hearing that will be conducted by the Economic Development Commission (EDC), after which the EDC will adopted a Resolution regarding the project and bond issue. But the EDB process has not yet begun.

The New Albany Redvelopment Commission is being asked to fund future pro rata bond payments for the public improvements of the project-- the parking garage and the plaza-- by pledging the future tax increment generated by the development.

The TIF process is just getting started. The NARC passed a Resoluiton to include the parking garage and plaza into the TIF district; the NACPC ratified the NARC Resolution; but the process has been stalled at the Common Council as indicated above.

After the parking garage and plaza become part of the TIF district plan, the NARC will have to pass resolutions/other actions to pledge the TIF to the project. That would be done sometime before the Common Council would pass an ordinance authorizing issuance of the EDBs.

The EDBs contemplated will not be a risk to the City of New Albany. All that is being pledged or promised, if you will, is the tax increment from the River View Development. No one is proposing a property tax back-up or an EDIT back-up or any other back-up at this time. If the Common Council was asked for a back-up, it would have to authorize it. (Such a back-up is not automatic with EDBs and again, I will repeat, no one is asking for a back-up. And these are NOT TIF bonds...)

The public improvements will be built by Mainland Properties. There will be a lease with the City to ensure public use and access while the bonds are being paid off. After the bonds are paid off, there will be a transfer of ownership of the parking garage and plaza or another long-term agreement to ensure public access and use.

All of this will be controlled by ordinances, agreements, bond documents, et cetera. It is way to early to produce all of this stuff right now. We are only at the beginning of an incremental process that will likely take several months to complete. But I am open to questions and suggestions.