The Upcoming Tiff over TIFs
The next big fight between Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and the Democrat-controlled City County Council is like to center around the use of the economic develop tool known as tax increment financing, or TIFs.
TIFs are a common tool used by local governments. Under the TIF structure the increased property tax revenue from a certain area is not given to local governments but instead used to pay off the bonds floated to finance projects that otherwise would not have been created.
Proponents call them necessary for jobs and development while opponents say their overuse takes badly needed revenue from local governments and schools.
I spoke with Deron Kitner, Executive Director and General Counsel of the Indianapolis Bond Bank to discuss how TIFs are used in the city and why is there such a growing controversy over their use. You can hear his interview below, it runs about 9 minutes.
Leon-Tailored Interview: Deron Kitner, Indianapolis Bond Bank
Council Democrats have questioned the Ballard administration’s use of TIFs and have put some projects on hold which the Mayor wants to move forward. The Indianapolis City-County Council’s Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee is taking up the issue of TIFs at its meeting this evening.
You can view a map of the city’s active and inactive TIF districts here. Note, it is saved with Slideshare which may be incompatible with some Apple products.
