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project tomorrow. Therefore the TIF decision making process should be focused on long-term • considerations. Recommendation for Creating a TIF Evaluation Process Develop measurement criteria We recommend that the city debate and approve a set of long-term criteria with which to weigh potential TIF projects. The City has already developed a vision statement. The Committee considered whether this might be adequate as long term measurement criteria. One could simply compare a development project to the City's stated long-term strategic goals. While the process would be a good first step, we feel that it is too broadly worded to be used as criteria and would lead to confusion from both developers trying to assess how the city will view their individual projects and citizens who wonder why a particular project is or is not approved. We recommend the city develop a set of more refined, long-term selection criteria with which to weigh development projects seeking TIF. We further recommend that developing these criteria be done outside the process of considering any individual project. This will help ensure, as best as possible, an independent view of the long-term needs and strategy of the City. These long-term criteria would then be integrated into the current process of evaluating business subsidies. Assign points We recommend using a point based assessment system. There are multiple ways to implement this,but the goal of any method should be that when a project is assessed it would be granted points relative to how much it met each criterion and how relatively important that criterion is. The intent of the points system is not that it would make the decision for the City Council,but rather that it would focus discussion on the most salient points of the project under consideration. Any large project is inherently complex and it is important to avoid prematurely debating its finer points. It has been suggested that an objective rather than subjective point system be developed, however given the complexity of redevelopment projects and the mix of short- and long-term costs and benefits involved,the Committee could come up with no strictly objective measure. That said,where possible we strongly encourage objective measure wherever feasible. We also recommend that specific minimum requirements be laid out, including enumerating any specific types of projects that are not considered appropriate for TIF because by their nature such projects do not provide the necessary long-term benefits. Scoring would be done by the City Council or its designated representatives. We commend that the following points,taken from our research, be held in mind throughout this process: Page 3 of 6