Lebanon Business Park TIF District

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The Lebanon Business Park is a Duke Realty project that is organized as a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District. The TIF District is controlled by the Lebanon Redevelopment Commission under the chairmanship of Jim Lewis (a Greater Lebanon Community Vision Committee (VC) "Stakeholder"). ALL the property taxes generated within the TIF District geographical boundaries are deposited in three TIF District funds. These funds are used to pay off Lebanon Business Park infrastructure bonds and otherwise meet the developer needs of Duke Realty and the VC. Detailed Lebanon Business Park TIF District financial information can be found at the bottom of this web page. Much of this financial information was graciously provided on April 8, 2010, by Debbie Ottinger, Lebanon Clerk-Treasurer.

The Lebanon Business Park TIF District has served its purpose and should be immediately disbanded for the benefit of property tax payers and utility ratepayers. Paying off the TIF bond and eliminating the TIF District would free up the $4 million in accumulated TIF funds for possible distribution to our local government units. More importantly, eliminating the TIF District would free up the assessed value within the TIF District to significantly lower property tax rates.

Using the Pay 2010 property tax rates to distribute proportionally the $4 million in accumulated TIF funds, our local government units would receive the following one-time distributions: Boone County - $410,900; Center Township - $52,957; Lebanon Community Schools - $2,172,787; Lebanon Public Library - $243,332; City of Lebanon - $1,120,023. Additional research is needed to identify any legal restrictions on how excess funds must be distributed if the TIF District is eliminated.

Eliminating the TIF District would reduce the property taxes of Lebanon's property owners because the assessed value within the TIF District would be included in the computation of the property tax rate. If local government spending stays the same, the property taxes of Lebanon's property owners will decrease almost 11% if the TIF District is eliminated. The calculations supporting this conclusion can be found under item I at http://www.finplaneducation.net/lebanon_property_tax.htm.

It would be Taxpayer Friendly if the VC, which includes just about all the elected "public servants" in Lebanon, would disband the TIF District and allow some property tax savings because their developer-friendly policies have already resulted in a property tax increase and are creating the need for utility rate increases.

Lebanon Business Park TIF District Financial Information

1. A total of $2,009,076.39 in TIF property tax revenue was generated during the 2009 calendar year and deposited in the three TIF funds?

2. NONE of the annual TIF revenue is automatically passed though to our Boone County, Center Township, Lebanon Community School Corporation, Lebanon Public Library, and City of Lebanon local government units.
a. TIF revenue was used to make a one-time purchase of a Lebanon Fire Department ladder truck two or three years ago.
b. TIF revenue was used to make a one-time purchase of three Lebanon Police Department police cars two or three years ago.
c. TIF revenue was used to make a one-time purchase of a Lebanon Street Department bucket truck two or three years ago.

3. There are three separate TIF funds, which had a total balance of $6,238,444.54 on December 31, 2009.
a. The Enterprise Boulevard Construction Fund had a $767,344.41 balance.
b. The Enterprise Boulevard TIF Allocation Fund had a $5,053,485.11 balance.
c. The Enterprise Boulevard Reserve Fund had a $417,615.02 balance.

4. A $414,650.72 TIF bond payment was made on February 1, 2010, reducing the current total TIF balance to $5,823,793.82.

5. There is one TIF bond with four remaining payments that total an estimated $1,784,540.
a. February 1, 2011, payment of $423,430.
b. February 1, 2012, payment of $425,580.
c. February 1, 2013, payment of $466,500.
d. February 1, 2014, payment of $469,030.

6. A description of the Lebanon Business Park can be found at http://www.booneedc.org/Links/documents/Aerial8.05.pdf.

This page was last updated on 09/02/10 .