How does the FDDP Park Plan pay for purchasing the land and supporting Mental Health?
The land is purchased using Tax Increment Financing (TIF) (Which does not raise anyone’s taxes) the same way the ULI plan does , except the TIF district is around the park rather than in it. It is also expected that the University residential development would enter the tax rolls under the TIF. The TIF does not increase a property’s tax, but only captures the tax increase that arises from the increase in property value that would occur whether the TIF was in effect or not. Financing could also be done with a Bond, however the liability for paying it off would fall to the county or city as a whole rather than to the tax increment on the district. There are advantages and disadvantages to both Bonds and TIFs, but the important point is that the increase in revenue to the City and County both from increased property values resulting from the development of the park and increased sales tax revenue from additional visitors would be more than enough to pay for the land and its development.
