Some economic relief may be on the way for the Business Loop.
The city of Columbia is looking at establishing a tax increment financing district, or TIF district, in the area around Business Loop 70.
"It's one of the most powerful economic tools you can use in the state of Missouri," said Matt Unrein, deputy city manager for the city of Columbia.
In the potential TIF district, the city would use the redirected funds to do things like help fix aging stormwater infrastructure and road improvements, Unrein said.
"Stormwater has been a problem, trying to retrofit modern development standards into existing irregular lots that don't have the size necessary to contain their stormwater," Unrein said.
Documents from other cities in Missouri show that TIF districts do not result in tax increases for consumers or businesses in the district.
A TIF district works by taking a future portion of property taxes and sales taxes in a community and redirecting those funds toward redevelopment projects.
"What it does is it sets a base, then development happens, redevelopment happens, whatever that difference is from the base to what the new increment is captured and can be redeveloped or redirected," Unrein said. "Fifty percent of it can be redirected to offset some of the project costs."
Unrein said there is no timeline for when a potential TIF district would go into place. He also said the boundaries for the TIF district have not yet been established.
Along with infrastructure fixes, there is also hope that a TIF district would bring more business to the area, creating some excitement among business owners.
"I'd be very excited. Very excited," Love Coffee General Manager Melissa Grevenstuk said. "... anything that could bring even more people down this way and bring it back to life."
Love Coffee opened in 2020 at its current location, which on Business Loop 70 East.
The TIF district would be different from The Loop Community Improvement District but would likely encompass much of the same area. Community improvement districts can use taxes to fund transportation infrastructure improvements. TIF districts can also fund transportation improvements but can fund public infrastructure projects and other improvements, too, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation.
In an emailed statement to KOMU 8, The Loop CID Director Carrie Gartner said, "the city has agreed to explore all routes to funding, from federal and state grants to TIF districts."
