Developers say JCPS district would gain from proposed TIF

Developers gave the Jefferson City Public Schools Board of Education a presentation of what the district would reportedly gain from the proposed tax increment financing (TIF) district Monday.

At the school board meeting, Dr. Raman Puri with Puri Group of Enterprises said the school district could gain millions of dollars as a result.

In Phase One of the project, the developers would build a Holiday Inn and Suites on the former Truman Hotel property, according to Puri. Phase Two would include a conference center and a Courtyard by Marriott hotel.

If the TIF passes, Puri told school board members the school district would get an additional estimated $1.6 million in economic benefit from the proposed property development alone over the TIF’s 23-year period. Puri said that would be on top of the approximate base $486,000 a year the district receives in property tax revenue.

Over that same time period, Puri said the development would reportedly also put an estimated $96 million into the community’s economy through distributed payroll and the Truman property tax, sales tax, lodging tax, and listed property tax. This does not include sales tax collections from surrounding businesses.

Then, after the TIF’s 23-year period, JCPS would get more than $656,000 a year, according to Puri.

“And that’s without even adding a single student to their district,” Puri told ABC 17 News. “That doesn’t include all the surrounding property taxes that would go up if this development occurred. And if this development does not occur and this area stays like it is, blighted, the surrounding properties would go down.”

However, Jefferson City Attorney Drew Hilpert told school board members last month JCPS would stand to miss out on $11.7 million in estimated revenue redirected to the TIF.

At the end of the presentation, School Board Member Pam Murray told Puri she still had multiple unanswered questions about the TIF.

Murray told ABC 17 News the district still has basic needs that are not being met and the TIF is a way for the developers to avoid their property taxes. Murray also said there has been other recent developments in the area that did not need a TIF.

The school board meets next on May 23 and said it hopes to get more answers on the TIF then.