Hello, everyone. This is City Council Rewind, looking at the meetings
for Tuesday, January 2nd, 2024. I am Air McCullagh,
director of communications for the City of Broken Arrow,
and this is Assistant City manager of Administration
Norm Stevens. Mr. Stevens, thanks for joining us again
for further rewind. This is right in your wheelhouse. As a former economic development manager for the City,
we're talking about TIFF districts. There was a public hearing during Tuesday
night's meeting about TIFF number five, this proposed district
that's going to come into the city. First and foremost, what is a tiff? What does TIFF stand for?
What does it mean to me? TIFF districts. The actual definition form
is tax increment financing districts, and the state of Oklahoma is a little
different than all the rest of the states. The way municipal government is primarily
funded is through sales tax. Most all other states
fund their governments differently. Makes it difficult. And one of the tools
that is available for cities to use are municipalities to use
or even counties is a tiff.
And what it does is it goes
in, it establishes an area that if not for the tiff,
wouldn't develop. So it allows you in this,
whatever that area may be, to establish a tiff
and it leaves the existing sales tax. It just continues to fund government
like it always did. But any new sales tax for a period up to 25 years can be capped, cured and put towards paying off the loan
that the city took out for that tiff. So what we're talking about
is the amphitheater, and there's a tiff
that was laid over that area. Right now there is nothing generating,
for the most part, any sales tax dollars. By putting that tiff over that area,
all the sales tax dollars that are generated either from the ampitheater
or from businesses going in around, we will capture that sales tax
and it will be put towards paying off our debt and our debt.
What is the debt? This is that the public improvements
that we've agreed to. the improvements that we're doing is to pay for the infrastructure
around the amphitheater. Okay. So we're looking at roads
and sanitary sewer, probably some water or different
things like that, I would imagine. Absolutely. Absolutely. So as far as this border is concerned, because you talked about there's there's
there's not a lot out there. This ampitheater
we've heard a lot about how it's going to possibly be the catalyst
for more development. So I would imagine that the TIFF district
is probably going to. We've probably created the boundaries
to where we project some new development is going to come into play. Is that kind of the strategy
that goes into play when it comes to Western Air? And it is there will be
there will be restaurants that come around, that there will be hotels
that will come around. There will be probably convenience stores
that come in, because when you have 40 to 60 events a year,
that's a lot of people coming in there and they're going to want to
maybe eat before, eat after.
They're going to want to be able to go
to a convenience store and get whatever you know, they need. So it will really develop
an area of our city that, once again, if not for that tiff,
which is allowing us to get the amphitheater in, would probably not
develop for many, many years. Wagner County is our partner
in this particular tiff. They have been very supportive
of the city of Broken Arrow. They passed a resolution yesterday
during their county commissioners meeting to support
and to participate in it. So it's a fantastic partnership
between the city of Broken Arrow and Wagner County. And folks, property
tax is not going to increase or anything because of this,
because we're not taking ad valorem out of this tiff, is that right?
That's exactly correct. It is a 100% sales tax tiff, and that is so important
for everyone to know. We are not using the ad valorem
to pay off the note that we borrowed for the
for all the infrastructure.
So when it comes to creating a tiff,
I understand a tiff. There are two hearings
that need to be take place. The first one was Tuesday night,
January 2nd. What is the second hearing? It is at the next council meeting,
which is the sixth, 16th, 16th, 16th of January,
and it will be the second public hearing. If someone wants to speak at that point,
they can and then we'll move forward
with the tiff. And I think you'll start to see
some great things going on out there. And at that second hearing is,
is there a possibility that the city council may adopt the TIFF,
the TIFF district or an ordinance? How does that part work? They the ordinance will be created. This is where the final step comes in
towards the tiff being established. You can learn more about those items
and many others on the city website.
All you have to do is click on agendas
and minutes in the government section. Click on the date Range dropdown list
and then select the governing body. Find the meeting date of your choice
and select the meeting details. That's it, folks. We'll see you next time on City
Council. Rewind. Thank you for watching. This is a production of the city Broken
Arrow, the city where opportunity lives..