Discussion:
EDA’s have the statutory authority to levy a small percentage (up to 0.0185%) of the city’s estimated market value, which for 2020 would be a maximum of approximately $892,500. The EDA and City Council can set the levy at any amount up to this cap.
Prior to 2018, the EDA has routinely received a transfer from the city's General Fund in order to fund operations, façade loans and other development related activities. In essence these prior transfers from the General Fund came from a portion of the city's tax levy. The EDA special benefit levy is considered a budget neutral change as the city's general levy no longer includes this transfer to the EDA.
The advantage of the EDA special benefit levy is that the levy is applied to all taxable properties within the city including properties that are currently part of a tax abatement or TIF district. The EDA levy is also identified on property tax statements as a separate local tax outside of the city's general property tax.
Staff is recommending a preliminary EDA levy of $350,000 for 2020, which is the same levy amount as 2018 and 2019.
Also, attached is a 2020 preliminary EDA budget. The EDA budget will be reviewed in further detail at the November workshop as part of the overall city budget. The budget includes $197,300 for wages and benefits which includes the Economic Development Specialist plus a portion of the Planning & Development Director's time. The EDA budget also includes $100,000 for façade loan requests and $25,000 for the Main Street Program.