What cost to state treasury?
Two years ago state lawmakers moved to rein in the growth of tax increment financing (TIF) districts that threatened to drain the state treasury. Lawmakers set standards and charged the Department of Revenue with reviewing sales tax TIF districts retroactively. That review has shrunk the size of sales tax TIP districts and limited the state liability; it has left the principal parties satisfied. The review, however, has not eliminated the sales tax TIF districts as a significant cost item to the state’s treasury. The TIF program was begun with property taxes in 1977 to encourage development of blighted areas. It originally allowed a municipality to designate a portion of itself, say a moribund downtown area, as a TIF district. The city fathers would then seek a private firm to build or rehabilitate property within the district, in conjunction with public improvements like roads, sewers or parking garages. The property tax assessment within the district would be frozen at the predevelop
