TIF Seminar hosts Steeleville Mayor as guest speaker TIF Seminar hosts Steeleville Mayor as guest speaker

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Steeleville Mayor Mike Armstrong, was guest speaker on a panel for a free TIF seminar held last Tuesday at the Southwestern Illinois College Red Bud Campus. There he discussed some of the benefits that TIF has done for the Steeleville community.

"I was very privileged to speak at the seminar," said Armstrong. "Karen Stallman and SWIC has always done an outstanding job bringing information to the communities and I was honored to be a part of it."

Armstrong informed everyone on how it has helped promote new businesses to come into town and attained existing businesses within the communities. Recently, Armstrong and the Council have made major improvements in Steeleville by bringing in new businesses such as Rheinecker Chiropractic. The Village of Steeleville assisted Rheinecker by giving her a TIF of $5,000 to help with the remodeling. She used it towards much needed building improvements. In return the Village gains a new business that helps serve the residents and is able to collect the taxed revenue in the long run.

Armstrong was joined by Mike Weber, director of Urban Consulting with PGAV Urban Consulting in St. Louis, retired Superintendent of Steeleville School District 138, Don Badgley and attorney Alan Farris of Sparta. The purpose of the seminar was to explain what the TIF was and how it could help communities.

The Tax Increment Financing, or TIF for short, is a public financing method which has been used for redevelopment and community improvement projects in the United States for more than 50 years. With federal and state sources for redevelopment generally less available, TIF has become an often used financing mechanism for municipalities.

When a public project such as a road, school, or hazardous waste cleanup is carried out, there is often an increase in the value of surrounding real estate, and perhaps new investment (new or rehabilitated buildings, for example). This increased site value and investment generates increased tax revenues. The increased tax revenues are the "tax increment." Tax Increment Financing dedicates tax increments within a certain defined district to finance debt issued to pay for the project. TIF is designed to channel funding toward improvements in distressed or underdeveloped areas where development would not otherwise occur. TIF creates funding for public projects that may otherwise be unaffordable to localities.

Ultimately, after the conclusion of the TIF project, all of this new revenue growth is available to the various taxing bodies. A successful TIF investment serves all of the investors, both public and private. Private investors are helped by a reduction in development cost and risk, and public investors by the generation of additional revenue available at the conclusion of the TIF project.

Ideas from the seminar help those who attended get a better understanding of what a TIF is and how communities can benefit.