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corner of Seventh Street and Kellogg Boulevard has been completely renovated (T. Meyer, personal communication, March 28, 2002). City of Minneapolis. The City Center tax increment district illustrates the argument that tax increment financing acts as a mechanism for tax base enhancement wMe reducing other governmental units' costs. In the five years prior to the 1977 certification of tl1e City Center tax increment district, the assessed value of the combined properties in the district declined by 9.6%, even though this was a period of high inflation. As the local tax base decreased, state transfer payments for school aid and local government aid increased. In certifying the district, the city in effect capped the level of state aid required to replace the declinin~l tax base. By 1989, as a result of TIF, the captured tax capacity of the district hald grown ten-fold, and continued to grow as other projects were completed in the district. In addition to the sales tax revenues generated by projects within the district, City Center contributed approximately $3 million each year to the fiscal disparities pool - dollars that were allocated to other municipalities in the metropolitan area, and that helped offset metro local government aid payments. It would have been difficult, if not impossible, for the private sector on its own to have assembled a downtown site consisting of many blighted and economically obsolete properties; "but for" the tax increment package, which paid for land assembly, coupled with the city's redevelopment powers, the significant growth in revenue and tax base could not have been realized. Furthermore, the City Center district is a component of the city's larger common project area. The tax increments from all districts within the common project are poolable, which has enabled the city to utilize tax increments in other blighted areas within the project area. Minneapolis used these pooled resources to support community-wide initiatives in various neighborhoods through the Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP), thus creating better housing stock, employment, and retail opportunities for city residents and others, and enhancing both the tax base and the overall quality of life (K. Robbins, personal communication, March 29, 2002). 14