Urban Redevelopment Financing

Urban redevelopment financing can be used to fund various public improvements, operation and maintenance, or economic promotion activities. For example, a redevelopment area might be established in order to finance extraordinary improvements to existing streets, sidewalks, curbing, drains, sewers, or gutters. The property owners within the redevelopment area benefit by the improvement of the roads and sidewalks, etc. but they also pay for it in the form of the special redevelopment tax. In that way, the beneficiaries of the improvement are the very same people who pay for the improvements. By statute, a local government entity cannot issue special assessment bonds to pay for “ordinary” repairs to pavement, sewers, gutters, drains, curbing, and sidewalks.

Special urban redevelopment financing can be used to fund economic promotion activities, including activities that promote economic growth in a commercial area of a local entity, including sponsoring festivals and markets, promoting business investment, helping to coordinate public and private actions, and enveloping and issuing publications designed to improve the economic well-being of the commercial area.

Urban redevelopment financing can also be used to make improvements to any publicly owned infrastructure, system, or other facility that the local entity is authorized to provide or the governing body of a local entity determines is necessary or convenient to enable the local entity to provide a service that the local entity is authorized to provide. Finally, special urban redevelopment financing can be used to fund costs that a local entity incurs in operating and maintaining improvements in an assessment area, including service charges, administrative costs, ongoing maintenance charges, and tariffs or other charges for electrical, water, gas, or other utility usage.

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