Business Loop CID makes modest revenue gains

The Business Loop Community Improvement District is on the tail end of its third year in existence, and Executive Director Carrie Gartner said she’s pleased with its progress.

The financial numbers in the CID’s 2018 Annual Report echo Gartner’s sentiments, showing modest growth in assessed property values and sales tax revenue over last year’s report. Total revenues were close to $400,000 this year, which Gartner said is a lot for a small organization.

“We are thrilled,” she said. “We estimated going in that we would have revenues maybe $225,000, $250,000 a year.”

New construction is down 14 percent but that’s not bad news, according to Gartner. Last year’s new construction totals were up 1,857 percent, which put them way above target already.

“The two years previous, new construction never topped $30,000,” she said.

The 2018 report shows monthly sales tax revenue numbers differing slightly from the 2017 report. For instance, revenue from March 2017 was way down compared to March 2018.

“We’re still learning what the trends are,” said Gartner. Despite fluctuating revenue month to month, overall revenue was up 7 percent over 2017 which meant a $1.2 million increase.

“It increased over last year so that means we do play a large part in the local economy,” said Gartner.

The CID runs mostly on sales tax, and that tax was approved by a vote of 4-3 in December 2016.

With revenues higher than expected combining with low overhead costs, it allowed the CID to have a few thousand left over for savings.

“That will help us build up a kitty for a major project,” Gartner said. “There’s some projects we can pay for with our yearly operating budget and some we really have to save over multiple years but we’re starting that process now, which is great.”

There’s about $62,000 left over for those kinds of projects.

“We’ve been neglected for 40 years, so we do have a 10-year plan to really get us back to where we should be,” she said.

Despite a 10-year plan for Business Loop beautification, there are several projects built into the budget that can get started in the next few years.

For instance, they’re working with Boone Electric to use some empty lot space for a public gathering area. There’s also a plan for a bike repair station near Parkade Center to pair with the city’s Bike Boulevard project that will extend from Parkade to the MKT Trail.

The future of the Business Loop, according to Gartner, lies with the customers that do it themselves and are small-scale manufacturers.

“We’re not trying to sell it to high-end clothing stores and we’re not trying to sell it to art galleries,” she said. “That’s not our niche. When we’re making the pitch, we’re making it to people who fit the character of the street already.”

There are many next steps for the Business Loop CID, but one of them is working to better utilize lots of unused space.

“We have a lot of vacant lots and a lot of big parking lots,” she said. “We need to figure out how to build so we have a place for all these people who want to be here.”

Here is a link to the full reports for this year and last year.