Colfax Joint Review Board: TID 5 value increment increases from $1.99 million to $6.9 million
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The value increment in Tax Increment Finance District 5 in Colfax, created in 2021, has increased from $1.99 million to $6.9 million.
The increase in the value increment in TID 5 is particularly notable, said Josh Low, a municipal advisor with Ehlers, Inc., at the annual meeting of the Joint Review Board for the Village of Colfax’s tax increment finance districts on December 18.
TID 5, a mixed use district, includes the East View residential development on Dunn Street.
State law requires that the taxing authorities hold an annual meeting to review the finances of the tax increment finance districts created by a municipality.
The taxing authorities include the municipality that has created the TIDs, the county, the school district and the technical college district.
Representatives at the December 18 meeting included Gary Stene, village trustee, representing the Village of Colfax; Kristin Korpela, Dunn County manager; Dan Lytle, director of economic development and regional campus manager with Chippewa Valley Technical College; and Tiffany Prince, the representative for village residents.
Lytle noted that as the representative for CVTC, he has attended more than a dozen Joint Review Board annual meetings this fall for municipalities within the technical college’s district.
The Colfax school district did not have representation at the December 18 meeting.
In years past, William C. Yingst Jr., district administrator, has represented the Colfax school district.
Yingst has previously noted that tax increment finance districts neither hurt nor help school districts, because if there is money left in the TID when it closes out, the state reduces the amount of state aid the school district receives by the amount received from the TID.
TID 5
TID 5 was created in 2021, and the final year of TID 5 will be 2041.
Several contractors have plans to build additional housing on the north end of Dunn Street and on the south end.
Stene asked if the looping of utilities to serve additional housing along Dunn Street would be eligible to be paid by TID funds, and Low said that those expenses would be eligible.
In a tax increment finance district, the taxing authorities continue to receive property taxes on the base value in the TID. Additional property taxes generated by new development in the TID, known as the value increment, go into a special fund that the municipality can then use to pay for infrastructure and to support new development.
When the TID closes out, the taxing authorities receive any money that is left, which is divided up according to the percentage of equalized value the taxing authority has in the tax increment finance district.
TID 3
TID 3 is in the close-out phase, Low said.
TID 3, a blighted district, was created in 2002, and 2024 is the final expenditure year for TID 3.
The maximum life of TID 3 is 2029, and the final revenue year will be 2030.
The 2024 street projects in TID 3 were financed with a state trust fund loan, Low noted.
There will be “plenty of money” in TID 3 to make advance payments on the street projects, he said.
When TID 3 closes out, it is projected to have a balance of a little more than $18,000.
By creating tax increment finance districts, the village board has not put taxpayer money at risk, Stene noted.
TID 4
TID 4, a mixed-use district, was created in 2006, and the final expenditure year was 2021, with the maximum life of the district and the final revenue year in 2026.
The district can be closed after April 15, 2025, for final revenue collection in 2026, Low said.
TID 4 includes payments to Timber Technologies in 2022 and 2023 of $17,217 and a payment of $13,916 in 2024 to help offset the additional property taxes Timber Tech paid for the expansion of the facility.
When TID 4 closes out, it would be eligible for an affordable housing extension for one year, Low said.
The money remaining in TID 4, about $35,000, could be used for affordable housing, he said.
When the maximum life of the TID is extended by one year, then at least 75 percent of the funds must be used for affordable housing, which is defined as housing that costs a household no more than 30 percent of the household’s gross monthly income, according to information Low provided to the Joint Review Board.
The remaining portion of the money must be used to improve housing stock.
The funds can be used anywhere in the community, and the funds do not have to all be used in one year.
Funds for affordable housing that are available by extending the life of the TID for one year can be used as incentives for building new houses (single family, senior and workforce housing and rental and owner-occupied housing), according to the information.
The money also can be used for studies about affordable housing and planning work related to affordable housing.
In addition, the money can be used for infrastructure improvements or can be used by the municipality to acquire more property for affordable housing.
The money can be used for grant programs as well such as facade improvement, first-time homebuyer forgivable loans, down payment assistance, rental rehabilitation and code compliance, according to the information provided to the Joint Review Board.
The Joint Review Board unanimously approved the resolution acknowledging the filing of reports for the Village of Colfax’s tax increment finance districts.
