Troy Allocates Leftover Funds From Old TIF To New One

By Charlie Feldman

cfeldman@timestribunenews.com

The Troy City Council passed an ordinance at its Monday, November 15 meeting that will help it close out its current Tax Increment Financing District fund and allocate the money to the new one that goes into effect on January 1, 2022.

“We have funds left over,” explained Village Attorney Fred Keck.

By statute to close the TIF, said City Administrator Jay Keeven, “We have to have those funds programmed by the end of the year. They don’t have to be spent but they have to have them earmarked. We have to decide which projects are going to get funded.”

He compared it to figuring out your household budget for future expenditures. A certain amount of money is set aside for car payments, rent payments and entertainment.

Total funds available from collections over the life of the old TIF are $1,848,648 in current and anticipated funds for November and December.

Out of a list of possible projects to allocate them to, total anticipated expenditures to the ones to which the city is committed are $3,184,042.

The two totals don’t make sense, Keck said, “except for the fact that if a project doesn’t go, we can use that money on another project. Which is why we have several projects in there that may or may not go so that we have that money obligated to that particular project in case we have something that falls through.

“So, for example,” he said, “if the purchase at 110 Market Street, if that doesn’t come together with the buyer there and we don’t spend that $250,000 we could move that potentially to Formosa Road or Downtown TIF or a portion of engineering if we wanted to engineer another project.

“If one or a couple of those fall through,” Keck said, “there are other places we can program. As long as we have a list we can program to it.”

Enacted in 1997, the old TIF is being retired after 23 years.

The next City Council meeting will be held on Monday, December 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the Troy Municipal Building.