At a meeting held Aug. 27, the Tyler City Council voted to authorize Staff to proceed with issuing a 60-day notification letter to all other taxing jurisdictions, which is the next step in the plan to create a North Tyler Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ), or TIF (Tax Increment Financing) District.
Tax Increment Financing is a tool used to foster downtown redevelopment and is governed by Chapter 311 of the Texas Tax Code. As private reinvestment occurs in the zone, a TIRZ captures the tax revenue from incremental increases in the property values in the area; it is not a new or additional tax. The amount of property tax and sales tax increment that is captured is then directly reinvested back into the TIRZ in the form of public improvements, revitalization and infrastructure projects.
“Chapter 5 of the Tyler 21 Plan focuses on North End Revitalization,” said Tyler Mayor Barbara Bass. “The use of a TIRZ in this area will be an important tool to stimulate private reinvestment as a result of public projects.”
Establishing a TIRZ in north Tyler was an action item identified in the Tyler 21 planning process to spur revitalization of this area. In April 2008, the City Council voted to authorize the hiring of a consultant to provide services required for the creation of the TIRZ.
“The TIRZ opens up a lot of possibilities,” said Council Member Ralph Caraway. “This is a part of an economic development strategy that will help revitalize North Tyler. It will promote projects like the North Chase development that is currently in the planning stages. This project includes assisted living and a subdivision that is long overdue; it has been over 30 years since a subdivision has been built in this area of town.”
Once the 60 day notice letters are sent to other taxing jurisdictions in the proposed TIRZ, presentations will be made to the School Board, County Commissioner’s Court and the Tyler Junior College Board of Regents. Ultimately, to launch the TIRZ, an ordinance will have to be passed by the City Council.
The proposed boundaries of the North Tyler TIRZ encompass property North of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (along North Broadway) to Loop 323, over to and including Texas College.
This is the second TIRZ planning process to be launched in Tyler since the adoption of the Tyler 21 Plan. The first was in Downtown Tyler.