By Sarah Nigbor

ELLSWORTH – The demolition of the former Ellsworth Junior High at 254 S. Chestnut St. is one step closer to reality. The Ellsworth Village Board voted unanimously to establish the boundaries and approve a project plan for new Tax Incremental District 12 at the Aug. 1 meeting. No residents provided public comment.

The new TID includes the 2.43 acres that the dilapidated building occupies in Ellsworth’s Dunbars Addition. Village President Becky Beissel previously made it clear that no developers or development plan are up for consideration yet. Creating a TID is step one of a lengthy process, one that will hopefully keep taxpayers from shouldering the burden of paying for the junior high demolition.

Financial Analyst Josh Low from Ehlers Public Finance Advisors provided board members a summary of what it means to create a TID and why. It’s a way for a municipality to fund infrastructure in order to develop a site.

“That’s where TIF can be a really powerful tool to spur on development,” Low said. “The area that you carve, that geographical area, when property taxes are paid, it’s usually split into four directions. Moving forward after the TID is created, the value (taxable value) stays the same and all those entities over the next 20 years are no worse ou than they are now, but the new value only goes to the village to pay for the infrastructure they installed to spur the development. All that new value then goes to the other entities once the TID is closed.”

What this means is while the property is in a TID (which has a life of up to 27 years), the village can create new taxable value through redevelopment. The property is taxed at the same rate (based on value prior to redevelopment), but 100% of taxes goes to the village, who uses it to pay back project costs. The other taxing jurisdictions, such as the school district, county and technical college, will see the benefits of higher tax revenue for their por tions once the TID closes.

"No one's worse ou in the short term but everyone's better ou in the long term," Low explained.

Creating a TID is not required to demolish the building or redevelop the site. It’s a tool to have a dedicated revenue stream to pay for the demolition and marketing of the site, rather than running it through the tax levy.

These days, it can be tough to inspire a developer to redevelop a site, Low said. In many communities, it’s not necessarily enough to just demolish a building and make it site ready.

The village may have to provide incentives to get a developer to come in. The proposed TID creation plan includes a budget for demolition and one for incentives.

Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is a way for the community to target and invest to try to develop or redevelop an area within the community. Sometimes a municipality needs help to do that, if they don’t want the cost to fall on taxpayers.

Currently, the site has a base value of $155,000, Low said. A new roughly $7 million structure built in 2023, if a TID is created, would mean $6.844 million captured TID value. That would generate about $132,000 in taxes (revenue) that the village could earmark to pay back demolition and incentives.

The potential redevelopment would have two expenses. Demolition is estimated (from Ehlers) to cost $1,160,000. The second is incentives to developers, which don’t need to be paid up front.

The district could be paid back in the 27-year maximum life of a blighted district.

The next step in the process is for the Joint TID Review Board, which is comprised of members from the village, county, school district, technical college and citizens, to vote on the proposed TID. They will meet at 4 p.m. Aug. 10 in the Ellsworth Village Hall lower level conference room.

Other business

• Beissel said the board will be able to review the new comprehensive plan at the September board meeting. A rollout to the community will be planned.

• The board approved payments to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation in the amount of $120,076.39 for the Main Street project and $2,973.54 for the Maple Street project.

• The board approved the purchase of a dissolved oxygen sensor for the wastewater plant for $7,171.60.

• The board approved a street use permit for Bernard’s Classic Cruisers to be held 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27 (rain date Aug. 28) for portions of Wall and Broadway streets.

• The board approved a street dance license for Broz Bar for 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27 (rain date Aug. 28) for portions of Wall and Broadway streets.

• The board approved a resolution supporting an increase in ACT 150 funding for Pierce County municipal libraries from an 80% reimbursement rate to an 85% rate, with an ultimate goal of 100% reimbursement.

It also approved a resolution asking the county to exempt the village of Ellsworth from paying any county tax for support of the public library services.

• The board approved an agreement with Pierce County to use the county’s commercial driver’s license testing program. The fee per test increased from $25 to $35.

• The board approved a service plan with TK Elevator Corp. for the new library building at 388 W. Main St.

• The purchase of a 2022 GMC 1500 Sierra Pro was approved for $44,524.50.

• The board approved an agreement for ser- vice with Diversified Benefit Services for COBRA services for the former adminis-trator clerk/treasurer. The cost is $660 per year plus miscellaneous costs.

• The board approved payment of an invoice from Market & Johnson in the amount of

• Police Chief Eric Ladwig reported the department responded to 303 calls for service in July, up from 287 in June.