A potential arts district in Brewer’s future that would include an amphitheater in a public park is one reason the city is proposing a handful of changes to a key economic development tool.
The city is proposing a number of updates to its Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, district that allows the city to set aside certain tax revenue for designated economic development projects.
The changes would broaden the types of projects the city could use that revenue for in the future, and would add Indian Trail Park to the TIF district so the city could use that revenue for improvements in that area, according to D’arcy Main-Boyington, Brewer’s economic development director.
In addition to creating an amphitheater in the park, other potential uses of the TIF revenue include bringing fiber-optic internet to Brewer businesses or creating new recreational trails.
While the city could use TIF revenue for those purposes, Main-Boyington said, the city has not yet planned or approved any specific projects.
TIFs are a financing tool towns and cities use to pay for public projects and to promote economic development. When a city includes something in its TIF district, such as a large business or other development, it can set aside tax revenue from the increased property value those businesses or projects create for any number of purposes.
The city can offer tax breaks to businesses in the district or use the money for purposes such as infrastructure upgrades or paying down debts, without increasing property taxes for residents, Main-Boyington said.
Brewer’s existing TIF district includes several spots around the city where large, expensive projects have happened, such as Brewer High School’s Performing Arts Center that was built in 2010.
“When the school built the performing arts center, we asked the superintendent to give us something in writing stating other organizations could use the center so it could help arts businesses in the area,” Main-Boyington said. “We got that agreement, so we were able to put it into our TIF district, so we were able to help pay for some of the debt service on that project with TIF dollars.”
The city wants to add Indian Trail Park to its TIF district and create an “arts district,” Main-Boyington said, because it hopes to build an amphitheater in the park in the coming years. If the park is included in the city’s TIF district, TIF money can help fund the project.
The park is already home to Ten Bucks Theatre Co.’s summer Shakespeare series.
For those performances, “people sit on the hillside, but it’s completely undeveloped,” Main-Boyington said. “We want to put in some granite seating, lighting, make ADA-accessible walkways and improve the area where they perform so it’s not muddy in the spring.”
Other changes to Brewer’s TIF plan stem from changes to how the state allows communities to use TIF money.
“This TIF has been around for 15 years and we’ve discovered new directions we think the city should be going in and new projects that would be TIF-eligible,” Main-Boyington said. “We’ve looked at the TIF statute and we said, ‘Well, if it has changed and it’s now allowable, let’s give ourselves the flexibility in the future to be able to do that if the right project comes up and if a future City Council wants to do that.’”
Brewer city councilors will hold a public hearing on the proposed change at their next meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 11.