LEADING QUESTION
Are Tax Increment Finance districts handouts or economic development engines?

Florida’s soaring property values have brought tax increment financing—more popularly known as TIF—to the forefront again, and some county governments, including Sarasota’s, would love to get their hands on those dollars.

TIF was set up by the Florida legislature in the ’70s to allow governments to freeze the property tax level in blighted areas (called community redevelopment areas, or CRAs). Developments within those areas do pay taxes at the current rather than the frozen rate, but all the tax money above the frozen level goes back to the districts to be used for revitalization instead of being sent into city and county government general funds. The thinking is that as revitalization takes place, and more businesses and residents are attracted to the area, property values will rise and TIF money will continue to return to the district for building roads, parking garages, public facilities and providing incentives to private developers until it’s no longer needed. Currently Florida has 179 CRAs.

Part of downtown Sarasota was designated a CRA in 1986, and the tax base was frozen at $411 million. In 2006-07, property values had risen to $2.2 billion—a more than 435 percent increase—most of which occurred in the last two years. Downtown Bradenton’s CRA was created in 1980 and started with a base of $41 million; it is now $235 million. Bradenton’s 14th Street CRA started at $52 million in 1993 and is now at $94 million.

 To date, in Sarasota, $36 million in TIF money has gone to help build the downtown Selby Library, enhance Bayfront Park, create Five Points Park and improve streetscapes and storefronts. It’s also been given as incentives to developers for projects such as Hollywood 20, Whole Foods, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune headquarters, Courthouse Centre and, most recently, Pineapple Square. 

Critics decry TIF as a giveaway to private development that would have occurred anyway, or as an unfair system that grabs revenue from other public projects. Proponents of TIF districts say redevelopment would never have occurred without them. Who’s right?

 “CRAs are seen as a blessing in a state where local revenue-raising capacity is limited,” says Dr. Susan McManus of the University of South Florida. “Impact fees and TIFs have been the biggest boon to local governments trying to do major infrastructure projects.”

True, says Sarasota County Commissioner Jon Thaxton, but downtown Sarasota is no longer blighted. County commissioners are reevaluating the TIF district, wondering if the time has come to change the agreement. “From the county taxpayer’s point of view, why should luxury condo owners downtown be getting this tax money back?” Thaxton asks. The city wants to expand TIF into Newtown now, and Thaxton says county commissioners may agree, but will want the CRA reduced in size in another part of the district. They’re hoping to come to a decision in xxxx.

Still, the whole TIF issue may be moot soon.  In an era of property tax rollbacks, CRAs may no longer be able to count on significant revenue increases. “It can all disappear,” sighed a Sarasota city finance department manager as he looked over the list of potential projects. —Susan Burns and Kim Cartlidge

CRUNCHING NUMBERS

DOWNTOWN SARASOTA CRA PROPERTY VALUES (1986-2006)

1986               $411 million
2000-01         $642 million
2001-02         $752 million
2002-03         $1        billion
2003-04         $1.1    billion
2004-05         $1.4    billion
2005-06         $1.7    billion
2006-07         $2.2    billion  

DOWNTOWN BRADENTON CRA: TIF-FUNDED PROJECTS

$1.3 million: Streetscaping and debt service on Barcarrota Boulevard, Old Main Street and other roads
$675,000: Building façade and site enhancement
$950,000: Bond issue to locate Robby’s Sporting Goods (now Champs) downtown
$12.4 million: Contribution to Manatee County to keep county administration building downtown

BRADENTON’S 14th STREET CRA: TIF-FUNDED PROJECTS

$721,000: Streetscaping (mostly in the Village of the Arts)
$500,000: Property acquisition
$200,000: Building façade and site enhancement

MY FIRST JOB

Celluloid Dreams
ADP’s Bruce Franklin peddled film.

Bruce Franklin is president of Sarasota’s ADP Group, a well-established architecture, design and planning firm with 42 employees. But long before he ever came to Sarasota, Franklin spent time in the film industry—though not in the way you might think.

“When I was 16, I was a film courier for a production company that produced filmstrips for educational purposes. My other option was raking leaves, so it seemed like a good deal. Every day I would strap on my blue shoulder bag, load it up with the film, take the train from Stanford, Conn., into Manhattan, and deliver the processed film to clients. The company gave me $5 for bus and subway fare and told me to keep what I didn’t spend, so I’d often end up with $4 left over because the subway was only a dime back then. I’d eat like a king.