CLEVELAND — Mayor Justin Bibb is introducing a massive legislative proposal to Cleveland City Council Monday night, requesting to funnel a portion of the dollars generated in future property tax increases into developing the city's waterfronts and downtown.
The ordinance says the plan would, "implement a tax increment financing program under the TIF Act to create the 'Shore-to-Core-to-Shore TIF District' to create, capture, and leverage growth in Cleveland’s Downtown and the near west side to benefit all Clevelanders, support robust public infrastructure investments to strengthen waterfronts and Downtown, and fund investments in parks and recreation throughout Cleveland’s neighborhoods."
Bibb believes if the city greatly supports public infrastructure downtown and on the waterfronts of Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River, it will stimulate growth and generate billions of dollars that would not exist otherwise.
"I give the city a lot of credit for doing this," said Destination Cleveland President and CEO David Gilbert, who also is the chair of the North Coast Waterfront Development Corporation. "It's thinking big. It's thinking big so that we are giving ourselves a huge new tool, by the way, that many other cities already use, and we do not, that allows for us to maximize future development."
Greater Cleveland Partnership's CEO Baiju Shah is also in support.
“I think it's important for Clevelanders to remember that downtown and our waterfronts, it's the front door for how our region presents to the world," he said. "It's going to change the impressions of individuals from around the world that are coming to Cleveland as to why this is a great place for them to invest their resources.”
Bibb's proposed "Shore-to-Core-to-Shore" TIF program would take a portion of the rising property taxes from most of downtown Cleveland, a part of the Flats, and the near west side.
On Monday, Bibb's team told 3News, "Depending on the amount of property value appreciation, the combined value of the existing TIFs and the new Shore-to-Core-to-Shore TIF District is estimated to be between $3.5 and $7.5 billion over the next 42 years."
Policy Matters Ohio is expressing concern about Bibb's plan taking future rising property tax dollars from Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland Metroparks, the Cleveland Public Library, and health and human services agencies.
"This proposal takes revenue that goes to all of these services that the voters have approved and uses it for something else," said Research Director Zach Schiller. "I think that those services are very important, and as much as we would like to see development, we don't have to have a development in which it's based on basically seizing money that the voters have approved, and that is crucial to Clevelanders for all of these different purposes.”
Bibb spokeswoman Marie Zickefoose sent 3News a response to these expressed concerns.
"First, TIF Districts do not reduce current taxes paid to entities that receive a share of property taxes," she said. "We believe bold investments in public infrastructure will grow the City’s -- and the County’s -- economy, leading to revenue growth in income tax, sales tax, and property tax across the entire region. Conservative estimates suggest this will more than offset the use of property tax revenue increases from the TIF District for public improvements."
Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin said he's very interested in the proposal, but has a lot of questions.
"Let me say, it's a big gamble," he said. "It's something that council really wants to understand. We believe our role is to provide transparency, to make sure that it's done in an equitable way so that it's not just going to affluent communities, but that it also will benefit the outer neighborhoods and the middle neighborhoods and the distressed neighborhoods that we have throughout Cleveland too because they have some dire infrastructure needs that we have to handle."
Monday night, the mayor's proposal will be introduced to Cleveland City Council. Griffin said the plan will then be assigned to a committee where it will be dissected and scrutinized much more intensely.
