Make wishtv.com your home page

Future TIF district proposed in Greenwood near Worthsville Rd. exit

GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) — In Greenwood, the city has invested several million dollars on the new Worthsville Rd. exit off I-65.

Now, it’s making another move to help spur economic growth in that area.

The Greenwood Redevelopment Commission unanimously approved the development of another TIF district at its meeting Monday.

There’s no doubt the southeastern area of Greenwood is growing.

Thousands of cars are using the new Worthsville Rd. exit off I-65.

Now the city wants to help further develop the area which was recently annexed from Johnson County.

“The roads are woefully inadequate to meet the needs that we have,” Redevelopment Commission President Brent Tilson said.

The way the city has decided to fund growth is through a TIF or a Tax Increment Finance district.

The creation of a TIF district is a multi-step process, which is now underway following Monday’s vote.

“There will be a fiscal impact study that’s done that says this is what the assessed value is currently for this land,” Greenwood Corporation Counsel Krista Taggart said.

That property tax base will be frozen.

“The school corporation, the library, fire protection district, etc., will all continue to get their portion of the taxes they’re currently getting from what is there,” Taggart said.

But any future additional property tax value will be funneled into the TIF district funds to be used for future economic developments, like infrastructure.

“So the theory is without improvements to those roads, without improvements to the drainage, without improvements to the sewer, it will be years before we see development in that area,” Taggart said.

That’s why Brent Tilson believes the Redevelopment Commission he leads voted unanimously to start the TIF process.

They’ve seen success already from previous TIF districts.

“That growth in tax dollars that does go into the TIF would not be there if not for the fact that we made investments in those areas,” Tilson said.

And Tilson is excited to see older TIF districts begin to mature and a cycle of growth starting to emerge in Greenwood.

“One of the things that’s been funded with the TIF dollars is the Worthsville Rd. new interchange,” he said, “the area in which we are now expanding.”

As far as next steps for the TIF district, there will now be a study done to determine the property tax base.

Then this will have to be approved by the city council, possibly by May.