Seymour now has a fourth tax increment financing district.

The Seymour Redevelopment Commission recently conducting a public hearing, approving a confirmatory resolution and receiving a TIF impact update satisfy the final requirements to establish the Jackson Park Economic Development Area.

The area includes three parcels — one where an apartment complex is being built along Miller Lane, another where an apartment complex is set to be built along Burkart Boulevard South and the other where Goecker Construction Inc. is now located on Jackson Park Drive.

The other steps were for the city’s redevelopment commission, plan commission and city council to adopt a resolution to approve an economic development plan for the area.

The fourth and final step was approved on a 3-0 vote with redevelopment commission President Mark Dennis and members Tim Hardin and Jeff Joray absent.

No one from the public attended the recent meeting to speak in favor of or against the new TIF district, though Mayor Matt Nicholson, who was seated in the audience, said he thinks it’s good for the community.

Matt Frische, manager/municipal advisor principal for Reedy Financial Group, said all overlapping units were notified of the meeting by certified mail. That includes those in the other three TIF districts in Seymour: Burkart Boulevard/Interstate 65, Bushmann and Silgan.

Each notice included a tax impact statement outlining the methodology, expectations for the area, parcels in the area and a map of the area.

“The impact is very minimal, and this goes back to the concept that you guys have a very low circuit breaker and have a very good circuit breaker environment,” Frische said. “You guys will basically collect way more than what the impact would be to those overlapping units.”

The impact as a percent of the 2022 budget would only be 3.83% for the city, 0.51% for Seymour Community School Corp., 0.65% for Jackson County, 1.24% for the Jackson County Public Library and 1.48% for Redding Township, according to numbers provided by Frische.

At the time of establishment of a TIF district, he said all of the base assessed value of a parcel still goes to the overlapping units, and if there is any additional development, that will be captured in the form of incremental assessed value. That will generate TIF revenue.

“TIFs have a 25-year expiration clock that begins at the issuance of debt payable from those revenues,” he said. “Right now, we’re looking at establishing this new area. Technically, it will not have a 25-year clock started yet because we don’t have debt that’s actually payable from those revenues yet. Once we start getting a revenue stream and start to develop that, if we have a larger project that we want that location area to pay for, we can look at that at that time.”

At the end of the 25-year period, Frische said all of the assessed value that has been harbored within the TIF district will be released to the overlapping units, effectively just lowering the tax rate.

Reedy Financial Group has estimated this new TIF district will generate an assessed value increase of approximately $23 million for real property.

The redevelopment commission anticipates the new economic development area will promote significant opportunities for gainful employment for the city, assist in the attraction of major new business enterprises to the city, provide for local public improvements in the area, attract and retain jobs, increase the property tax base and improve the diversity of the economic base of the city.

It’s anticipated these benefits will be attainable through the capture and subsequent reinvestment of newly assessed real property taxes that will become taxable.

“The allocation area does not affect property taxes,” city attorney Christina Engleking said.

The city can use TIF funds to better the community, Frische said. Current or ongoing projects include West Second Street, Burkart Boulevard extension, street paving, U.S. 50 lighting, Freeman Municipal Airport, Seymour Main Street and debt payments. Future projects include TIF creation, Second Street, street paving, O’Brien Street, the redevelopment commission’s quality of life grants, Seymour Main Street and Jackson County Education Coalition.

In 2022, Frische said $5,299,053 in TIF revenues will be collected across all Seymour TIF allocation areas, and $4,024,015 will be collected due to the city’s utilization of TIF. Thus, the TIF margin is 76 cents.

A low circuit breaker results in a very good TIF margin, he said.

“That means for every dollar that you guys receive, 76 cents of that would not have existed if not for the use of TIF, so it’s a very, very impactful tool that you guys are using and using quite well,” he said. “You guys are a model example of how to use TIF in the state of Indiana. We regularly compare you guys and show you guys as kind of the poster child of ‘Hey, this is how you guys need to work with your other overlapping units and strive to be similar to this unit.’”