Business Loop CID sales tax revenue higher than expected

For more than a year, shoppers on the Business Loop have been paying a little more in sales tax. The sales tax funds the Business Loop Community Improvement District and its plans to beautify the street.

The CID was created in April 2015 and began collecting sales tax after voters approved the half-cent hike in April 2016.

“I’ve had a few customers actually say ‘I’d gladly pay an additional half-cent sales tax to support what we’re trying to do on the Business Loop,'” said Dave Griggs, owner of Dave Griggs Flooring America. “In my opinion it’s the northern gateway to our community and we need to make it better.”

Carrie Gartner, the CID’s executive director, said they conservatively projected the tax would bring in was about $220,000, but the actual revenue was much more than they expected: totaling around $313,501 in its first year.

“What that says to us is that we have strong business along the corridor,” she said. “That proof of concept for anyone that wants to come in, has a niche that really fits along the street to realize that they too can open up a business that has that customer base.”

Gartner said the sales tax money makes up more than half of the CID’s revenue stream. This year, $54,644 came in for property tax assessment but it could be much more next year, because the total assessed value of property in the district jumped more than 12 percent over the previous year.

Gartner said this is attributed to new construction on the corridor, including renovations at KIA of Columbia.

“That’s proof of concept for anyone that wants to come in and has a niche that really fits along the street,” she said.

One other revenue source for the district is $5,000 a year from MU North, which has an extension halfway down the Business Loop corridor.

Gartner said their budget for FY 2017 was lean, because they wanted to save money for the future beautification plans as well as pay off debt expenditures the district incurred when it first began. They also paid consultants to begin the planning stages of the beatification plan.

“We had super conservative estimates because if we’re living on that month-to-month revenue number, we do not want to overestimate than and promise more than we can actually do,” she said.

Expenditures for FY 2018 will most likely see more than 50 percent of their total funds going toward the master plan to improve the Business Loop corridor by beautifying it and adding things like sidewalks and intersection improvements.

“Public safety on the Business Loop is about how we get people across five lanes of traffic without a crosswalk,” said Gartner. “Or how do we have people walk from one business to another if there’s no sidewalk and they’re literally walking in the bike lane.”

The city’s sales tax rate is about 8 percent.