City Council ApprovedWater Street Solutions TIF Agrement
Approved by 10 to 0 Vote tonight
Welcome new addition to the Warehouse District
Water Street Solutions is a great company that will occupy this building, eventually bringing 200 jobs to the Heart of Peoria. They assist farmers in improving their business operations through education and financial counseling.
The Peoria Journal Star criticizes the decision to grant a TIF incentive to Water Street Solutions.
It is never wise to get into an argument with people who buy ink by the barrel, and the Star is entitled to their opinion. I will point out, however, that this great expanding company will rehab a long empty building and eventually hire 200 employees. The TIF funds are future taxes paid by the new development - if the new development went somewhere else we would not have the tax in the first place. And they came very close to building elsewhere.
Large parts of the Heart of Peoria have been in decline for many years. If the City does not help kick start development, then development will go to surburban areas.
It is usually much cheaper and easier to go to a green grass site. That is where most new development takes place.
If we did nothing, nothing is what we would get. We have a lot of development in cue that will rehab the older parts of our city. Developers are attracted to by the TIF and Enterprise Zone incentives. If we followed the prescription outlined by the Star, most new development would continue to go to other parts of the region or country.
The employees that Water Street Solutions will bring to the Heart of Peoria are candidates to purchase the condominiums that will developed in the Warehouse District. The employees will help revitalize our central city. That is how we rehabilitate and revitalize older neighborhoods - one business and one redeveloped property at a time.
Warehouse District increased by 11% in value last year, compared with a 3% increase for the School District. TIF works.
More on the Warehouse District TIF on the blog below.
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