HCS/SS/SCS/SB 108 - This act modifies several provisions relating to tax increment financing. This act modifies the definitions of "blighted area" and "conservation area", and creates new definitions for "flood plain infrastructure projects", "port infrastructure projects", "retail area", and "retail infrastructure projects". (Section 99.805)
This act modifies local tax increment financing projects by providing that a study shall be conducted by a party other than the proponent of the redevelopment plan, which details how the area meets the definition of an area eligible to receive tax increment financing.
This act also provides that retail areas, as defined in the act, shall not receive tax increment financing unless such financing is exclusively utilized to fund retail infrastructure projects, as defined in the act, or unless such area is a blighted or conservation area. (Section 99.810)
For tax increment financing projects approved or amended after December 31, 2019, the City of St. Louis may provide for the deposit of up to 10% of the tax increment financing revenues generated by the project into a Strategic Infrastructure for Economic Growth Fund to be established by the city. Moneys deposited in such fund may be expended by the city for the purpose of funding capital investments in public infrastructure that is located in a census tract that is defined as a low-income community or is eligible to be designated as a Qualified Opportunity Zone under federal law. (Section 99.821)
This act prohibits new projects from being authorized in any Greenfield area. (Section 99.843)
This act also prohibits new projects from being authorized in an area designated as a flood plain by the Federal Emergency Management Agency unless such projects are located in: 1) Jackson, Platte, or Clay counties; 2) in a port district, provided such financing is utilized for port infrastructure projects; or 3) in a levee or drainage district created prior to August 28, 2019. This act also provides that new projects may be authorized in an area within a flood plain provided that such financing shall be exclusively utilized to fund flood plain infrastructure projects, as defined in the act, that result in such area no longer being within an area designated as flood plain. This provision shall not apply to tax increment financing projects or districts approved prior to June 30, 2020, and such projects may be modified, amended, or expanded by not more than forty percent of such projects' original projected cost. This provision shall also not apply to any property that adjoins or is adjacent to a tax increment financing project or district as of June 30, 2020. (Section 99.847)
Current law allows districts and counties imposing a property tax for the purposes of providing emergency services to be entitled to reimbursement from the special allocation fund of a portion of the district's or county's tax increment. This act expands such eligibility to districts and counties imposing economic activity taxes for the purposes of providing emergency services. (Section 99.848)
This act is substantially similar to HB 698 (2019), and is similar to SB 311, HB 32 (2019), and SS/SCS/SB 859 (2018).
JOSHUA NORBERG