NEWS

Military Avenue fund may get a do-over

Scott Cooper Williams
Press-Gazette Media
Military Avenue underwent a major reconstruction in 2010, but a special taxing district has yet to reap the benefits of new business growth.

After digging itself into a financial hole, a special taxing district for Military Avenue on Green Bay's west side might soon get a chance to make a fresh start.

Created in 2007 to promote development along Military Avenue, the tax-increment finance district has incurred debts that could require subsidies from property taxpayers citywide.

City officials call it the most distressed out of 14 such special taxing districts throughout Green Bay.

But officials have devised a plan to revive the Military Avenue fund by lowering the equalized taxable value of the retail shopping corridor nearly $13 million, from about $95 million to $82 million.

With development picking up in recent months along Military Avenue, resetting the tax base will mean a greater positive impact when the addition of Burlington clothing store and other newcomers reaches the tax rolls.

"We see no downside to this," Assistant City Attorney Jim Mueller told members of the city's Redevelopment Authority on Tuesday.

The authority endorsed the move, which also will be considered Wednesday at a special Green Bay City Council meeting.

Officials say the change needs to be approved by Friday to take effect before the Wisconsin Department of Revenue starts a new tax year.

Dan Perron, executive director of the Military Avenue Business Improvement District, said he appreciates the effort to strengthen the taxing district. The special fund, when healthy, is a major enticement to bring new business to the area, he said.

"It's a very good selling point," Perron said.

Dan Perron, executive director of the Military Avenue Business Improvement District, says the tax-increment finance district is a good tool for recruiting new business.

A tax-increment finance district is a designated geographic area where the city, school district and other government entities earmark future tax revenue for improvements within that specific area, such as infrastructure upgrades or new business incentives.

The Military Avenue fund helped pay for a $12 million reconstruction of the north-south thoroughfare in 2010. The project was part of a broader, ongoing effort to re-establish Military Avenue as a shopping and business corridor.

The national economic downturn, however, slowed business recruitment, and the taxing district started to lose value rather than gain it, according to the state's procedures of equalizing property values for tax purposes. By those standards, the Military Avenue corridor dropped as low as $79 million before rebounding slightly last year to $82 million.

With debts coming due from the road project, the district soon could rely on city property taxpayers and utility ratepayers for about $500,000 a year to keep paying its bills.

But a recent change in state law also allows municipalities to reset a tax-increment finance district's taxable value as a way of writing off losses suffered in the economic recession. The process is known as "re-determination." Without such a move, the Military Avenue district might never recover to a point where it gets out of the red.

The final decision on lowering the district's value will come from a joint review board that includes representatives of Brown County, Green Bay Public Schools and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. All are partners with the city in the tax-increment finance district.

Brown County Planning Director Chuck Lamine said county officials are still considering the proposal, which he said could mean a short-term loss of revenue for the county while strengthening the Military Avenue taxing district in the long term.

"We just kind of want to plan for that," he said, "and find out if there are some alternatives to make us whole down the road."

— swilliams@pressgazettemedia.com and follow him on Twitter @pgscottwilliams.