Jefferson City's downtown is considering a new taxing district to help cover costs of beautification and maintenance, but only if the support exists among businesses and property owners in the district.
Downtown properties recently received letters from the Downtown Association inviting them to an open house on a potential community improvement district (CID) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Capitol Plaza Hotel. The letter states that the association "is considering the implementation of a (CID) for the purpose of snow removal, downtown beautification ... Christmas lights and other downtown improvements in which all downtown investors have a stake."
Association President Stephanie Bell said the open house is a way to gauge interest among property owners and businesses to see if the CID is even worth exploring further. If there is sufficient interest, she said, then they can begin answering more specific questions about how the taxing district would work.
"The open house is just an opportunity for all the property owners and businesses to come together and decide is a CID something we want to pursue," Bell said. "And if it is something we want to pursue, there's a number of questions that need to be answered."
How a CID works
According to the Missouri Department of Economic Development, a CID "may be either a political subdivision or a not-for-profit corporation ... organized for the purpose of financing a wide range of public-use facilities and establishing and managing policies and public services relative to the needs of the district."
To create a CID, a petition must be signed by a majority, which is 50 percent plus one, of the property owners who control a majority of the assessed valuation in the district. The petition must contain a five-year plan describing the purpose of the district, the services it will provide, the improvements it will make, an estimate of the costs for all services and improvements, and the maximum rates of property taxes or special assessments that may be imposed.
The petition must then be presented to the City Council to be enacted by ordinance. Currently, there are only two CIDs in Jefferson City - the Southside Munichburg Community Improvement District, which uses a special assessment of $2.25 per linear foot of street frontage, and the Capital Mall Community Improvement District, which uses a sales tax to help pay for renovations and improvements at the mall.
Bell said if the downtown properties decide to pursue a CID, they will need to decide the boundaries of the district, what funding mechanism to use and exactly what should be funded.
Current services
Bell said a CID would ensure all downtown properties are paying their fair share for things like snow removal and beautification efforts. Right now, those types of services are funded through membership dues for the Downtown Association, which are $150 per year for a full membership.
Because not every downtown business or property is part of the association, Bell said, some businesses end up paying more than their fair share to make up the difference.
If the CID is pursued and created, Bell said the dues for the Downtown Association could decrease as the CID funds would start to cover a lot of the costs the dues are currently used for.
"The businesses have a decision to make," Bell said. "They need to look at what they're spending now on those services and then what they would spend under the CID."
According to the association's website, they currently pay for placement and maintenance of holiday lights, maintenance of large corner flower bowls, snow removal, and free cardboard and can recycling services.
Previous proposals
The open house Tuesday represents a step back from previous conversations about a potential downtown CID.
In February, a three-member work team discussed a far more specific proposal for a downtown CID. The team, made up of Bell, Lance Stegeman and Mark Mehmert, discussed a proposal for a special assessment of $8 per linear foot of street frontage for the CID. The envisioned boundaries, which were not concrete even then, framed a space between Capital Avenue to the north, McCarty Street to the south, Adams Street to the east and Jefferson Street to the west.
At that time, the team predicted the special assessment would raise about $42,000 annually. They discussed setting $25,000 aside for beautification and snow removal, $5,000 for cleaning and maintenance, $6,000 for public safety needs, and $6,000 for consumer marketing and consumer-oriented research projects.
Bell said the CID has been discussed for a number of years, with earlier versions looking at a sales tax instead of a special assessment. But earlier proposals were put on hold when the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce proposed an economic development sales tax called Transformation, which included a proposal for $1.2 million to be spend on downtown streetscape and sidewalk improvements. Voters defeated the sales tax proposal in February 2012.
Gauging interest
Mehmert, community development manager at the chamber, said now the discussion has moved back to see if there is enough interest to justify further work on the proposal.
"What we're trying to find out is if this is an option or not," Mehmert said. "It's all very exploratory."
Bell said the purpose of the open house Tuesday is to see if there is enough interest to even continue discussing the possibility of a CID.
"We want to hear from our property owners and our businesses what they think," Bell said. "That's where we're at."
Mehmert said a survey will be done at the open house asking people if they would support the concept of a CID and if they support a sales tax or a special assessment, as well as what size CID would be supported. After the open house, he said one-on-one meetings would be set up with property owners to discuss the potential for a CID and any concerns people have.
The open house will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Capitol Plaza Hotel.