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Tax Incremental Financing (TIF)
What is Tax Incremental Financing (TIF)?
Tax Incremental Finance (TIF) is a financing tool that allows municipalities to invest in infrastructure and other improvements, and pay for these investments by capturing property tax revenue from the newly developed property. An area is identified as the tax incremental district (TID) as appropriate for a certain type of development, and projects are identified to encourage and facilitate the desired development. Then as property values rise, the property tax paid on that private development is used by the municipality to pay for the projects. The tax paid to the schools, county and technical college districts (the overlying taxing jurisdictions) is also used by the municipality to pay for the improvements. After the costs of the projects are paid off, the TID is closed and the value of all the new development gets shared by the Village, DC Everest School District, Marathon County and North Central Technical College as it does for other property.
Village Tax Incremental Financing Districts (TIDs)
TIF allows municipalities to promote tax base expansion. The municipality identifies an area for development; this is the Tax Incremental Districts (TID). Businesses interested in locating in Weston are encouraged to take advantage of the excellent land development opportunities available within the Village’s two Tax Incremental Districts (TIDs). The Village’s TIDs offer diverse opportunities for businesses and industry poised to take advantage of Weston’s ideal Central Wisconsin location and low property tax rate. The village has two TIDs, designed to foster redevelopment and industrial, commercial, office, and healthcare development. The original, larger one (TID #1) is located in the southeast area, around the Highway 29/J interchange, extending west toward the Weston Regional Medical Center following Weston Avenue. A second, smaller district (TID #2) was established in 2004, following the Schofield Avenue corridor, between Birch Street and Business Highway 51. These TIDs have encouraged significant economic development and community appearance improvements since their inception.
TIF Applications
Weston has an extensive application process in order to select who qualifies for TIF funds. TIF funding is approved by the Weston Community Development Authority and the Weston Village Board. Those who qualify are decided based on criteria that can include: business type, site selection, employment, future expansion, and financing options. Weston has two different applications that are used for TIF funding.
The first application includes the TIF guidelines, which outlines the specific types of developments that TIF is used for. This also includes the TIF application, which will need to filled out in order to qualify for financing. This application is for larger developments that are newly constructed and require significant financing. The application needs to be completely filled out in order to be considered.
TIF Application and Guidelines
The second is the Small Improvement Economic Development Grant, which is for encouraging expansion or upgrading visible exterior upgrades. This program provides funding for projects that will help maintain and enhance the overall attractiveness and commercial viability of the Village; as well as supporting the health and growth of individual businesses.