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City of Centerville <br />Council Meeting Minutes <br />March 11, 2020 <br /> <br />project. He did state that he is in favor of the project. Ms. DuFault stated that she felt that residents <br />were concerned about their property taxes and how this development would affect them. She felt <br />that additional development (similar to this project, in this area) would not net the population to <br />levels that resident would receive tax relief and it should not be associated with an apartment <br />building when existing residents do not desire one. Ms. DuFault requested that Council consider <br />the desires of the residents and the tax base. She stated that it will take 16 years before the building <br />generates any tax amounts and she felt that was a ridiculous amount of time. She stated that <br />someone from the audience asked the average length of TIF that other communities provide and <br />she believes that it is not for more than 10 years. She asked how long the construction period <br />would take and stated that if there was a 16 year TIF and it took three (3) years to construct it <br />would be a total of 19 years before taxes were paid. She stated that she had concerns of the <br />ramifications to the school with additional children and strains on public safety due to the addition <br />of the building and its residents during the 16 year period of the TIF. <br /> <br />Mayor Paar stated he is having a hard time understanding where there is only 100 people that gets <br />us towards the 1000 but yet those 100 people are going to cause the City to hire more staff, police <br />and fire. The taxes is the biggest thing he gets complaints about and raising taxes as inflation goes <br />up, he stated that he’s not sure that this is a valid point. Again, we can disagree on that issue. The <br />effect on the school was addressed at the beginning of the meeting, Lino Lakes is constructing 250 <br />homes where children from them will be utilizing Centerville Elementary, with the 75 homes that <br />Centerville will be constructing they will also be utilizing Centerville Elementary. He stated that <br />if this project doesn’t go, we may still have to hire more staff, police and fire, regardless, because <br />we have 75 more homes being built in town that could be 4 people living in verses 1 or 2. There <br />are a lot of what ifs and this could be a good thing by bringing in more businesses like Dunkin <br />Donuts and coffee shops. He stated that new businesses east of town are now going to be on the <br />tax base for Centerville and this is a good thing. He stated when the City bought property, they got <br />a lot of heat for doing that, but we had control of what would be constructed on it. As a Council <br />Member you make a lot of gambles based on what is best for the City. <br /> <br />Mr. Jon Brickner, 1580 Sorel Street, several questions regarding financing and costs of <br />construction that he has concerns about. He questioned Council about the $10 million total cost <br />for the project but then the valuation was $6 million and how that was derived and what it meant? <br />Administrator Statz stated the valuation of the apartment building is different than the valuation of <br />a single family residence, it is not what the building will sell for, it is about what income it can <br />produce. Finance Director DeJong explained for purposes of valuing commercial properties, they <br />look at resale, construction costs and they look at income generated. Because there are restriction <br />on this requiring subsidized portion for some of those units it will not be valued at same level as <br />complete market rate apartment. Mr. Brickner asked does that mean the tax rate is based off of <br />the $6,000,000? Finance Director DeJong concurred. It is generally at a reduced price for <br />valuation purposes. What you can sell your property for is generally not what you are being tax <br />on. Mr. Brickner stated the long term plan is pretty aggressive. Most of us that moved to <br />Centerville did so because of the small town feel without apartments everywhere. <br /> <br />Mr. Brickner stated the area that is being referred to as downtown he felt was not downtown and <br />that along Main Street was downtown. He stated that everyone should be concerned if there is a <br />vacant lot in their neighborhood, that an apartment building could be constructed there. He stated <br />no one wants an apartment building in their front yard. He stated that people in the downtown <br />Page 8 of 18 <br /> <br /> <br />