TIF

Since Burlington is creating yet another TIF district, I thought I'd throw it out there for those of you who hadn't heard about this in the past. A few towns in Vermont already use this tool. I'm not entirely sure what the downsides are in relation do where the taxable appreciation goes but Tax Increment Financing seems like an interesting topic to explore.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_increment_financing
http://accd.vermont.gov/strong_communities/opportunities/funding/tif
http://www.cookcountyclerk.com/tsd/tifs/pages/tifs101.aspx

My basic understanding is that if we defined a portion of town that could be utilized for future development, we would then note the current tax value related to that area. Then we would take the anticipated future appreciation in tax revenue based on a series of public projects to finance the debt we would take out on the TIF. The idea being that if we expand our water district, expand our school infrastructure, build sidewalks, fix our roads and make certain areas where development would be possible, we would increase land values and thus the tax basis. Take the additional taxes generated by that base and pay down the debt. On the downside, if those improvements don't generate the upward swing, the TIF debt is paid by the Town.

I'm not sure what actual project could utilize this tool but these seemed to reasonably fit into the examples given.