A dozen downtown business professionals turned out at last night’s Springfield City Council meeting to address a bill proposing expansion of the Downtown Springfield Community Improvement District.
All but one of the speakers expressed support for the plan that primarily would extend its boundaries to the north along Boonville Avenue and west along College Street, increase the district’s sales tax and property-tax assessment and add 15 years to the CID that was scheduled to expire next year.
The sales tax within the CID would rise to a half-cent per dollar from a quarter-cent and the renewed and expanded district would allow a special property tax assessment of up to 75 cents per every $100 of assessed value, up from 40 cents. The total assessed valuation for the proposed district is roughly $39 million, with about $6 million estimated to come from the expanded areas, said Downtown Springfield Association Executive Director Rusty Worley.
According to
Springfield Business Journal archives, the moves together would bump the district’s annual budget of $352,000 in fiscal 2016, which began July 1, to an estimated $560,000 a year.
“CIDs are a tool for economic development across our industry,” Worley told council. “The International Downtown Association, of which we are a member, recognizes there are 1,000 CIDs or (business improvement districts) across the country in 49 states. This is a tool that is widely used. It has benefited Springfield in many ways. Our board here is led by a 15-member board. It is one of the most grassroots forms of democracy here.
“These tax dollars are overseen by business owners and residents, and they have the say on how that’s reinvested in their area.”
Features of the CID include cleaning of public sidewalks and gathering spaces, supplemental police patrol, snow removal and parking enforcement.
Establishing the expanded district requires the signatures of property owners collectively owning more than 50 percent of real property by assessed value and by over 50 percent per capita of all owners of real property inside the boundaries. The CID petition secured signatures of 167 out of 281 – nearly 60 percent – of the real property owners in the district, who collectively own 68 percent of the total assessed value within the proposed CID, according to the bill.
Butler, Rosenbury & Partners Inc. President Geoffrey Butler was the lone speaker opposed to the plans.
“We do not want to be in the CID. There is nothing that the CID is offering that will benefit us,” Butler said, adding the company already pays for security to protect its 319 N. Main St. office. “Our share of the assessment will be $4,500, for which we get nothing. We do not need image enhancement and brand enhancement for the downtown area.
“Honestly, we don’t feel we are a part of the downtown area.”
Mother’s Brewing owner Jeff Schrag was among the public speakers supporting the move. Schrag, who has served on the CID board and owns multiple properties within the existing district, said he was drawn to downtown when launching the brewery because of the revitalization he’s seen in the area over the past two decades. The district was established in 1999.
“I am really honored to be part of the gateway that leads people into downtown,” Schrag said, speaking to the brewery at 215 S. Grant Ave. “We have broad support for what we do. We do not have unanimous support for what we do. I’ve learned over the years, if you wait for unanimous support, likely, nothing will happen.”
Other supporters included attorney Stephanie Stenger Montgomery, loft developer and property manager Craig Wagoner and Missouri State University Business Incubator Director Brian Kincaid.
