How does Urban Renewal funding work?
A municipality draws a line around a targeted area, identifies specific improvements to be carried out and over time issues bonds to pay for those improvements. The assessed property values that exist at the time the URA is formed are called the “frozen base” – revenues on these values continue to go to the general funds of the affected taxing jurisdictions (e.g., the City and the County) for the life of the URA. When the URA expires and the urban renewal bonds are fully retired, the increment is restored to the regular tax rolls, and the taxing jurisdictions benefit from the increased valuations that urban renewal helps to instigate.
