Minutes 11-11-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Commissioners and the staff. Commissioner Gordon asked Craig Benedict if the County's fiscal impact analysis might be helpful to use here. Craig Benedict said the County's fiscal impact analysis is focused more on residential development, so it is not an appropriate model for non-residential developments. He said there are new models out there to look at the multiplier effect. Commissioner Gordon said that would be helpful. Commissioner McKee referred to page 11, and he asked for more explanation of the public and private improvement status and how this would be measured. Ken Pennoyer said the public improvement status would be an update on the progress toward roadway and storm water improvements. Commissioner McKee said he understands that the improvements to the road make the redevelopment more likely, but the improvements to the road do not factor into an increase in tax revenue for the County. He asked how this is factored in with the performance report. Ken Pennoyer said the performance report is more an update on the milestones the Town has set for making progress on the project, and it will provide a snapshot of where road development is and how this affects the potential for other development in the area. Commissioner McKee asked if the Town is preparing an exit strategy in the event that the County decides that the project is not meeting expectations. Ken Pennoyer said he is proposing that this decision be made on an annual basis during budget deliberations. He said part of this is based on the realization that money from new taxes has a lot of demands. He said the purpose of the performance report is to illustrate the fact that the project is creating value with regard to what was expected. He said the exit strategy would only be needed if the County decides it has a higher use of those funds. Commissioner McKee said this does not seem to align with the 20 year build out of this project. He said he would think that there would be some expectation of the County to see this through to the end. Ken Pennoyer said the town would like to see a 20 year commitment, but they understand that in order for that to make sense the project would need to perform and meet the needs of Orange County in terms of economic development. He said staff obviously feels that the project is going to meet the milestones in the development scenario, but they want to structure it in a way that gives the County a choice. Commissioner porosin said he wants to be clear. He said if these student projections are way off and there are actually more students coming in, the County could choose not to give the $400,000 to the project, and could allocate to the schools instead. He asked if this is an accurate assessment. Ken Pennoyer said that is the County's prerogative. Commissioner porosin asked about slide 12 and said it looks like the payment would only be less than the $400,000 in the first year. He said every other year it looks like the green block is the same size. Ken Pennoyer said this slide is based on a likely development scenario. He said the portion of the increment would be less than 50 percent of the debt service, and the town would make up the difference.