Cities have been leading development through tax increment financing (TIF) districts for years, but with Interstate 69 on the way, the county is now in the planning stages of creating its first TIF district.
Ideas are preliminary and members of the newly formed Johnson County Redevelopment Commission are feeling their way through the process. The county board met for the second time this week to discuss TIF development for the I-69 corridor in unincorporated areas.
I-69 will follow the path of State Road 37, passing through Bargersville and White River Township and bringing development with it. The years-long project will extend the interstate to Indianapolis from Evansville. Construction is underway now in the Martinsville-area with plans to progress northeast through Johnson County in the next few years.
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The Johnson County Board of Commissioners created the redevelopment commission in late 2019 to drive development at the corridor, said Brian Baird, a commission member and county commissioner.
According to state law, redevelopment commissions must have five members, including one non-voting member who represents a local school district. County boards may have up to seven members at the discretion of the county executive.
Right now, Johnson County’s board is composed of six members: the three county commissioners, Rob Henderson, a county council member; R. Lee Money, a Greenwood attorney; and Curtis Harris, a Clark-Pleasant School Board member. Henderson will act as the redevelopment commission’s president.
Redevelopment commissions have the power to purchase, dispose of, repair and maintain structures, enter into public contracts, issue bonds, accept grants and create TIF districts.
TIF districts are established in areas that are expected to grow. In the county’s case, the commission will establish districts in areas of unincorporated Johnson County. By creating TIF districts, the county opens the door to Economic Revitalization Areas within the districts, making new developments in the area eligible for tax abatements, agreements between local governments and developers where tax breaks are offered in exchange for growing a business in that specific area.
Redevelopment commissions vote on TIF districts and Economic Revitalization Areas within a particular area and then forward those to the executive body, which in this case is the county commissioners. With the three commissioners forming the majority of the voting membership, they will be forwarding the agreements to themselves to approve again at a later meeting.
Also because all three commissioners sit on the redevelopment commission, all meetings must be held as joint meetings with the board of commissioners. A meeting must be called anytime all three commissioners are assembled to conduct county business, per the state’s open door laws.
Having the full board of commissioners on the redevelopment commission may change at some point, but the commissioners have not discussed changing the arrangement yet, Baird said. For now, the commissioners plan to remain on the board during the initial stages of setting up the I-69 corridor for growth.
Many local leaders say tax abatements are necessary to attract businesses, and the level of development Johnson County has seen in its cities would not be possible without them. Across Johnson County, there are 27 TIF districts, the majority of which are in the cities of Franklin and Greenwood. The towns of Edinburgh, Whiteland, Bargersville and Trafalgar also have at least one TIF district.
County redevelopment commission members say a TIF district will help spur planned growth at I-69. R. Lee Money emphasized urgency at the meeting, and said the commission should create a map of the area it would like to declare a TIF district as soon as possible. The map will highlight which areas near I-69 are unincorporated, and will allow the commission to take stock of what development is needed in those areas, Money said.
Most of the new development is likely to occur near future exits at Smith Valley Road and County Line Road, both of which are in unincorporated areas of White River Township.
The commission’s first order of business is to look for and hire an attorney who has experience in TIF law to guide them.
But the commission, because it is so new, doesn’t have any money to hire an attorney. The commissioners offered up $25,000 from their budget that formerly went to the Johnson County Economic Development Corporation. The money is being redirected because the organization, which at the start of the year, consolidated with Aspire Johnson County + Chamber Alliance, is more focused on growth in Franklin and Greenwood than in unincorporated areas, Baird said.
The money will come from an area of the budget that is normally reserved for various organizations that help the county, he said. That funding will be allocated to the redevelopment commission at a future commissioners meeting.
Ron West, a commission member and county commissioner, suggested the county simply include all of unincorporated White River Township in the district, which could capture a variety of developments including future homes and commercial properties. Most of White River Township is unincorporated. Greenwood has incorporated a small portion of the township from Honey Creek Road to the area immediately east of State Road 135.
Once development begins to occur in any new TIF districts that are created, a portion of the tax dollars generated will be rerouted to the redevelopment commission, but must be spent in the same TIF districts the tax dollars come from. The money can also be used to fund public projects in that TIF district.
Projects would likely include extending utility services to the area, improving roads, and building parks, sidewalks and trails, West said.
