Milford Redevelopment Commission Monday, June 8, passed a motion to allow the expenditure of $6,350 toward the cost of Troyer Group’s Milford Town Facilities Study. The amount constitutes half of the $12,700 Troyer indicated.
President Dan Brown stressed, “It’s the town’s decision,” meaning the expenditure was dependent on Milford Town Council’s decision to go ahead with the study, which it did at a meeting later Monday evening.
The decision to use tax incremental funds to cover only half of the study was based on its focus on the town of Milford, “areas we’re lacking in,” Brown noted. However, the commission’s TIF district is dependent on the utilities, fire and law enforcement services directly affected by the study.
The commission also passed a motion to contribute $250 to help fund a study on the effectiveness of TIF districts.
A recent report by the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research has again thrown a negative light on TIF districts. It cites debt and higher effective tax rates as the result of such funding.
A letter to the editor of the Indiana Economic Development Association, signed by its board director, John Taylor stated, “This study tells us almost nothing of real value regarding the efficacy of TIF, yet from these loose associations he draws sweeping negative conclusions about TIF as an economic development tool.”
The redevelopment commission’s contribution will go toward another study funded by IEDA that uses what George Robertson of the Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation called, “sound statistical data.” Data he believes was not used in Ball State’s report.