Milford TIF District Resolution Approved
The adoption of a confirmatory resolution for a Tax Increment Finance district in Milford was made official at Thursday’s Kosciusko County Redevelopment Commission meeting.
The TIF district is the site of TruPointe’s new development, which is a state-of-the-art graining processing facility.
A public hearing was also held, with no remonstrators or members of the public present.
On Feb. 14, the redevelopment commission adopted a declaratory resolution establishing TruPointe as an economic development area. The county commissioners and Area Plan Commission also approved the resolution and plan.
Todd Samuelson of Umbaugh and Associates gave a brief overview of the proposed TIF district. He said there is no negative impact to overlapping taxing units, such as the school and the library.
He estimated that the taxes are $411,000 in revenue per year.
The county issues the bond and TruPointe secures it. A bond issue in 20 years at 5 percent will generate $1.7 million in revenue, which can also be used for other projects. County attorney Mike Miner said TruPointe is buying its own bond. There’s no risk to the county, stressed Samuelson.
There will be $3.3 million available for public purposes, such as road improvements or other public infrastructure.
The declaratory resolution for the TIF district, encompassing about 1,119 acres north of East CR 1300 North surrounding the 200-acre site, under development by TruPointe Cooperative Inc., will pay for road improvements north of Milford. The district will help pay for improvements to North CR 100 East, which will see increased truck traffic once the facility gets underway.
The TIF district will be for 25 years and the bond issue for 20 years. The expiration of the TIF district would not prevent another business from moving in. Miner stated that there would likely be more of an interest in that area after TruPointe moves in.
The first phase of the project will consist of offices, a railroad loop and fertilizer plant.
In other business, Bill Holder of the county’s GIS department gave a presentation of the mapping system in the county. The system shows where the most recent water and sewer systems are in the county.
“It’s useful for economic development,” said Holder.
George Robertson of KEDCo agreed. “It’s really important for companies coming here,” he said.
Holder said he is working on updating the county’s fiber optics systems, too. Robertson added, “It’s really important for companies” because they want to know how fast and up-to-date fiber optic systems are in the county. “They want (to know) speed, bandwidth and gigabytes,” he explained.
“There’s value for the county in knowing where these are,” said Holder, especially for assessment purposes.
Robertson noted that Kosciusko County gets “high ratings” for its GIS system.
In noting economic development news, Robertson said he has been very busy working with expansions of existing companies. “I’ve been meeting with lots of companies,” he said.
He noted the 2012 corporate ratings report came out recently. Labor costs have moved to the No. 1 spot in factors for site selection. Second, is highway accessibility and third is availability of skilled labor.
Moving to fourth place, from 13th place, is availability of advanced telecommunications services. “We are in good shape there,” said Robertson. Corporate tax rates dropped to No. 7 from No. 4.
On a final note, he said a major orthopedic trade show will be held in June in Winona Lake.
The next meeting is at 1 p.m. May 9.