Whitefish mulls tax-increment priorities, future districts
With the sunset of Whitefish’s tax-increment finance district less than a year away, the Whitefish City Council is contemplating priorities for the remaining TIF revenue and potential new tax districts within the resort city.
A work session from 5:30 to 7 p.m. tonight at City Hall will include a review and discussion of tax increment finance project prioritization. Independent contractor Chuck Stearns, former Whitefish city manager, has completed a feasibility study of future TIF districts in Whitefish and will present his findings at 6 p.m.
There will be time for public comments before the council advises City Manager Adam Hammatt how to proceed.
Hammatt sent a memorandum to the council, recommending diverting $900,000 from the city’s TIF budget to the proposed Baker Avenue underpass project.
“We were hoping to receive a grant from the state for about $800,000 to complete this project, but the state has not opened the grant and staff feels even if they do, there is not enough time to get awarded and get the project in their pipeline before the TIF sunsets next July,” Hammatt said in the memo.
He prioritized other potential TIF projects, in order, as including the Riverbend Condos bike/pedestrian path, Washington/Skyles wall replacement and rehabilitation, wastewater treatment project, library interior remodel and purchase of blighted property.
The first Whitefish TIF district created in 1987 included almost all of the commercial area and some residential neighborhoods, Stearns noted in his study.
“This TIF district proved to be very successful in rejuvenating the downtown area by reconstructing roads, building surface parking lots and a parking structure, and helping provide for important community amenities such as a recreation center, a library and a performing arts center,” Stearns noted, adding that revenue from the district also built a new Emergency Services Center and enabled redevelopment of the former City Hall site into a new City Hall and parking garage.
Whitefish extended the life of the TIF district, but can’t further extend it when it sunsets July 1, 2020.
Tax-increment revenue is derived from taking the portion of tax paid on the increase in tax value of all property within the district and placing it in a special TIF fund for use on future projects, Hammatt explained.
The underlying reason for creating TIF districts is to redevelop blighted areas of the city.
Stearns’ report evaluates potential new TIF districts such as the U.S. 93 South urban renewal area, the Railway District and U.S. 93 North, including the former Idaho Timber site.
In other business, the council will hold public hearings to consider a couple of conditional-use permit requests for accessory apartments, one from Stuart Bray at 19 Minnesota Ave., and one from David Radatti of Mindful Designs at 1455 Barkley Lane.
The council will vote on a proposal to award a contract for close to $400,000 to Knife River for the Monegan Road project.
The council meeting begins at 7:10 p.m. at Whitefish City Hall.
News Editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.