Will TIF-financed Mindiola Park plan happen? Not if Waukesha County has its way

WAUKESHA - An obscure panel holds the financial key to the city's Mindiola baseball stadium and soccer complex plans, and it's clear its support will be no walk in the park with one county official calling it "a stick in the eye."

That much could be gleaned from the first Joint Review Board meeting focused on Waukesha's proposed extension of the tax increment financing district, from which the city wants to capture $11.5 million to pay for a park plan that, in turn, it hopes would generate further private development.

To accomplish that goal, the city has to convince the board to allow TIF District No.14's boundaries to extend a mile eastward to Grand Avenue and north to Estberg Avenue, encompassing the area that includes Mindiola Park and related public lands for future park space near Hoover Avenue.

On Wednesday, Nov. 28, the five members of the board, representing each of the tax jurisdictions affected by the TIF district, met to hear and discuss the basic elements of the city's pending request.

The meeting did not result in a vote. As Jon Cameron, a senior municipal adviser with the city's public financing consultant Ehlers Inc., explained from the outset, the purpose of the meeting was more about preliminary organizational tasks than final action on the proposal. (A followup meeting was scheduled for Jan. 15, when the board may act.)

Vocal opponent

But that didn't stop one of its members, Waukesha County's Director of Administration Norm Cummings, from firmly stating the county won't support the city's proposal.

Cummings enumerated the dollars that taxpayers would collectively save if TIF 14 — the highly successful district most often associated with the growth of the Shoppes at Fox River — were to close in 2020, allowing new property tax dollars generated by construction there over the past 15 years to freely flow into the various tax rolls.

According to his summary, drawn from tax tables partly discussed at the meeting, city taxpayers would annually save $5.9 million, school taxpayers $4.6 million, county taxpayers $1.1 million and technical college taxpayers $200,000.

"All together, that's $11.8 million more in taxes that would have to be paid (if the TIF district remains active until 2027), and for what? A park?" Cummings said. "There are some nice things about it. However, it's tax exempt. It's going to be a city park.

"All the money is coming from ... an already successful TIF 14 that could be closed. And, if you keep it open (until 2027), it would be just like a stick in the eye for the overlying tax system. ... The county will not support this."

Board's role

The other Joint Review Board representatives — Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly, Waukesha School Board President Joe Como, WCTC Vice President of Finance Jane Kittel and Waukesha businessman Mike Payne, a citizens representative — offered no equally overt opinions or statements at the Nov. 28 session.

But they had some questions on the plan, nonetheless.

Como, noting that the school district works under a different tax-funding formula than do the city and county, said the Waukesha County School Board will ultimately want to know more about the financial details and its affect on the district.

"I guarantee you that will be a question," Como said.

His comments were consistent with the purpose of the board, which is to ascertain what impact the extension of the boundaries of TIF 14, and the decision to let it run until it is statutorily required to close in 2027, would have on each tax jurisdiction.

TIF's nature

Though board members generally understand the role of tax increment financing, it's not necessarily second nature to the public at large.

The way TIF districts work is essentially like this: Property tax money generated by new development, above and beyond the taxes that were generated before a redevelopment project began, are set aside for a period of years to pay for the public debt generated by public improvements at the site.

In the case of the former Flemings grocery distribution warehouse, from which the Shoppes at Fox River sprang in 2008, the result has been a dramatic rise in tax value, which by 2027 will fully flow into the tax rolls once the district closes. (The TIF district actually predates the shopping center's development and has been altered several times since it was established in 2003.)

By extending TIF 14, the city would add on to the existing debt, but with projections that promise that $1.7 million in added tax revenue would retire the new debt before the district is required to close by law.

Mindiola plan

The city wants to finance the construction of a $12 million stadium to serve as the home of a Northwoods League baseball team owned by Big Top Baseball, which operates five other league teams in Wisconsin.

City officials point to the Northwood League's economic benefits in other communities where the college-aged teams compete.

At the Nov. 28 meeting, Jennifer Andrews, the city's development director, reaffirmed that the city firmly believes the park, which would also eventually include tournament-level youth soccer fields, would prompt tax-generating developments before 2027 and beyond.

"We think that development will continue past (2027), ... but we didn't want to overpromise (in the Mindiola plan)," Andrews said, adding that one developer has expressed interest in a notable residential project as part of the redevelopment district.

The Waukesha Common Council is expected to discuss the issue again in December. But the decision about whether to enlarge the TIF district ultimately rests with the Joint Review Board, meaning the city needs at least three jurisdictions to accept the city's plan.

City officials have informally suggested the Mindiola project would likely not move forward without the TIF district as a funding source, though the common council has not formally said so in deliberations, to date.