MONROVIA — The development plan lists as its objectives things like benefitting “public health, safety, morals and welfare,” increasing the “economic well-being” of the town and “protecting property values” in Monrovia and in the state of Indiana.
According to the Monrovia Redevelopment Commission, which met Monday evening, this long list of objectives is why the town needs a tax increment financing (TIF) district.
The RDC voted 3-1 — with Tammy Everett voting against the measure, and Gregg Shields absent — to approve establishing Monrovia’s first ever TIF district.
TIF districts, becoming more and more prevalent throughout the country, are economic development areas in which a municipality or county uses future property tax increases to fund community improvement projects such as local infrastructure, while other taxing units — like school districts, for example — are capped at the base value for up to 25 years.
One of the primary goals of TIF districts is to attract business development, usually through generous tax incentives.
In Monrovia’s case, the TIF will be home to cleaning and sanitation company GDI’s warehouse, and is located on the south side of Keller Hill Road and east of Ind. 39. The TIF offers GDI a 100-percent tax abatement for its first year in the area, and over 10 years, the abatement will incrementally decline and the town will recoup that tax money at the end of the decade.
A public hearing was held Monday night before the vote was taken, and two members of the community raised concerns.
One man simply urged the commission to be cautious, reminding them of the debt the city of Carmel has accrued due to TIF adoptions.
Another woman expressed her dismay at yet another warehouse coming to small town Monrovia — and with it, more people, more houses and suddenly, a much bigger community.
Data center?
The same woman, who declined to give her name to The Correspondent or anyone else at the meeting, also asked the RDC what they knew about a rumored multi-billion-dollar data center coming soon just outside of Monrovia, on land owned by the county.
“That has nothing to do with us,” RDC president Michael Conner said.
Nonetheless, the conversation continued for several minutes, despite grumblings from some members of the RDC that the night’s public hearing was only supposed to be about the TIF district.
“It’s a public hearing, she gets to speak,” Everett said.
“I’m not saying she can’t!” Conner snapped back.
The Monrovia Town Council President Philip Fowler was in attendance at the meeting and publicly acknowledged his awareness of the potential data center, though he was uncertain the project would even come to fruition.
If it did, a multi-billion-dollar data center would transform Monrovia overnight, and many logistical questions — about housing, schooling, water supply, jobs — would suddenly become very pressing.
