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New Guide Shows Best Practices in Tax Increment Financing
To help local governments understand and appropriately implement Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to finance diverse infrastructure projects for their communities, the Council of Development Finance Agencies (CDFA) and the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) has published the “Tax Increment Finance Best Practices Reference Guide.”
Forty-nine states and the District of Columbia currently have TIF enabling statutes to finance projects including retail, mixed-use, housing, transportation, brownfield remediation and community amenity development.
The new guide — the first of its kind — provides a reference manual for public officials, financiers and real estate developers looking to fully understand this powerful financing tool.
The new publication’s “guiding principles and case studies will help local communities and developers better understand this important yet complicated redevelopment tool," said ICSC President Michael P. Kercheval.
TIF can be used as a transformational tool that resurrects blighted and abandoned communities and encourages new private sector investment, said CDFA Executive Director Toby Rittner.
"TIF is an extremely valuable economic development tool, but it is important that the financing vehicle be used responsibly and structured as effectively as possible," said Frances Walton, CDFA board president and CFO of the Empire State Development Corporation.
The guide lays out a path for local governments to use TIF in the best possible way, said Marc Hughes, CDFA TIF Committee chair and director for DEPFA First Albany Securities LLC. "As we regularly update the guide it will continue to be timely and relevant."
The guide presents best practices in TIF throughout the country to show communities what they need to do to use the financing, and 26 case studies have been compiled to highlight a variety of TIF uses and applications.
The “Tax Increment Finance Best Practices Reference Guide,” available on CDFA and ICSC Web sites at www.cdfa.net and www.icsc.org, is free to CDFA and ICSC members and $25 for non-members.
For more information, e-mail Blake Smith at NAHB, or call him at 800-368-5242 x8583.
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