Council nears vote on Westside tax district
The Kalispell City Council will decide at its next regular meeting whether it wants to move to expand the Westside Tax Increment Financing District, which is on track to sunset in March 2012.
“We need to make that decision pretty soon,” council member Duane Larson said during a Monday night work session.
Other council members agreed on the need for a vote at their Sept. 6 meeting.
The resolution that will be introduced is expected to come with a report and recommendation being prepared by the city’s planning department.
If the vote is affirmative, the issue would go before the Planning Board, which would consider it and return a formal recommendation to council.
On Monday, council members seemed divided about whether the Westside TIF should be expanded. Several possibilities were discussed, including one that involved the county fairgrounds.
But even if the council votes to expand the Westside TIF, the only way for its life to be extended beyond March 2012 is for the city to issue bonds for a project inside the district between now and the scheduled sunset date.
If bonds are issued, the life of the district would automatically be extended for the life of the bonds, City Attorney Charles Harball said.
The trouble so far has been finding a suitable project. Over the past few years, none has surfaced, but advocates hope that expanding the boundaries of the Westside TIF could help capture a suitable project.
Council members Robert Hafferman and Tim Kluesner on Monday said they think the Westside TIF should simply be allowed to sunset.
A sunset would pay out close to $1.76 million held in the Westside TIF fund as of this August — as well as another $300,000 to $400,000 in revenue that is projected to be paid into the fund this year — to various taxing entities.
According to Hafferman, the city of Kalispell would get $460,000 and Flathead County would get about $340,000. Kalispell Public Schools would get the most, an estimated $1.2 million, he said.
“We don’t even have a project and we’re messing with taxpayer money that all three entities are being kept from having and they all need ... I say let it sunset now,” Hafferman said.
Council members Jim Atkinson, Randy Kenyon and Larson spoke in favor of some option to expand the Westside TIF.
Several council members said they hope to find some way to relocate the railroad tracks out of downtown — an idea that has been floated for years. According to interviews by planning department staff, property owners in the core area have identified the railroad tracks as something that is inhibiting investment and redevelopment.
The Flathead County Economic Development Authority is working to build a rail-serviced industrial park somewhere in the county using a $1.147 million award from the federal Economic Development Administration.
But it’s not clear if the city of Kalispell would be able to piggyback onto that project as a way to move forward with any type of bonding for a rail relocation project between now and March to extend the life of the Westside TIF.
Mayor Tammi Fisher said a fairgrounds project is too premature for the council to consider and the relocation of the railroad tracks is something the city should be looking at.
Fisher said she’s torn between wanting to expand and extend the Westside TIF district as an economic development tool and the need for more funding in the city coffers. She said she welcomed public input on the issue.
Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.