Eldorado Council assured TIF will aid, not harm, school system

Eldorado City Council is moving forward with plans to establish a Tax Increment Financing District.

The tentative plan for the TIF district, undefined publicly as to the boundaries, apparently has one primary area of concern to the council.

Commissioners and Mayor Rocky James at a Tuesday night meeting of council were adamant that the TIF, if established, does no harm to the finances of the school district.

“The school has always been my main concern,” James said. “We’ve got to protect the schools.”

The city’s TIF consultant, Bob Vancil, said he has met with school officials and he outlined to council a plan under which the school system would not lose, but would gain dollars.

Vancil said under the formula for school educational fund money, a no-loss situation is guaranteed by the state as dollars diverted from TIF districts are replaced by state funding.

He said the same thing already happens in the instance of enterprise zones — about $58,000 in tax abatement is replaced by the state in aid to Eldorado Unit No. 4.

The district could lose about 10 percent of its levy in other areas, he said.

However, he was able to outline a plan to the council that would not only replace the 10 percent, but would add more funding to the district without a loss in state aid.

While Vancil made no direct references to the Saline County Board, several discussion points appeared aimed at that body where members have expressed reservations about new TIF districts in Harrisburg, Eldorado and Galatia.

“We are looking at this from the standpoint of Eldorado, it will benefit other taxing bodies,” he said, saying the county would receive added income from population growth and sales and income taxes.

“It is important to base (the city’s decision) on knowledge and not on hearsay,” he said.

Vancil is expected to bring to the council a TIF district proposal at the next meeting, 5 p.m. Nov. 22.

During the meeting:

— Financially,the greatest worry of Finance Commissioner Jim Morris is the cost of fuel.

He reported the city’s workers are doing a good job holding down expenses; he urged fuel conservation.

“Expenses are in line with the exception of fuel continuing to be a problem,” he said.

— Council moved forward a major fuel conservation project, but not of the vehicle variety.

Using a grant that pays 75 percent of the cost, council awarded work to Glass Doctor of Harrisburg for $28,200 to replace large windows at City Hall and the water department area with insulated heat-conservation glass.

Windows and doors at the Police Department and Community Center will be replaced with thermal windows and doors.

— Residents were reminded the Street and Alley Department crews work in quadrants, meaning leaf pickups will be once a month in each of four sectors of the city.

Residents were urged not to rake leaves into the street.

“We are just a small workforce,” the mayor said, explaining leaves in the streets end up in the sewers and cause serious problems.

He said while he is reluctant to have police handle the problem of leaves raked to the street, “If leaves are raked into the street and cause an accident, someone is going to have to answer for it.”

Commissioner Jeff Minor also noted residents may haul their own leaves to the disposal area for yard waste near the sewerage treatment plant.

— Public Safety Commissioner Bob Briddick reported the city’s most recent police recruit, Ryan Ward, is doing well in his academy training.

Briddick said Ward will return home just in time for Christmas.

His graduation date is Dec. 22.

— Mayor James and commissioners expressed pleasure at the smoothness of Halloween trick-or-treating, especially the very popular trunk-or-treat on Locust Street.

Fire Chief Mike McKinnies said 815 youngsters were treated by the firefighters on trunk-or-treat night.