Proposed matching grant fund in Brookville for the 21 by 21 Project may be delayed

By John Estridge

It seems a plan to have a 50-50 match grant fund for new or repaired sidewalks in Brookville may be put on hold for a while.

Brookville Town Council initiated a 21 by 21 Project where the BTC members solicited public opinion and put together a list of 21 projects to better life in Brookville and that can be accomplished in 2021. One of those was a 50-50 grant program for property owners in Brookville to repair or replace sidewalks.

It is to be funded by the Brookville Redevelopment Commission.

However, at the BRC’s March meeting, Monday evening, March 15, some BRC members said the BRC needs to complete some of its ongoing projects before adding more.

BRC maintains property tax funds derived from a Tax Increment Financing Zone or District. Basically, the TIF Zone is all of Brookville. When it was formed, a benchmark was placed on the property taxes on properties within the zone. Then, any increases in those property taxes from that time of the benchmark go to the TIF District. BRC then uses that money to enhance the economic vitality of the area.

It currently has two ongoing projects. It is planned to construct a sidewalk from Fairfield Avenue to the school property off Oxford Pike. The second one is constructing a parking lot off Sixth Street near its intersection with Main Street. For each project, the BRC has not received cost estimates at this time.

Another ongoing smaller project is the facades program with a maximum of a $10,000 matching grant.

Also, BRC just completed a project for the improvement of storm water and wastewater lines in southern Brookville mainly along First Street. It was done to help existing businesses and to make property in that immediate area more conducive to development. The project cost $182,070 with $50,000 coming from the BRC.

Currently, the BRC has $75,492.67 in its Lawrenceburg Fund and $118,262.39 in its TIF Fund. The Lawrenceburg Fund came from the Lawrenceburg boat money. That program has been suspended for a number of years as the Lawrenceburg City Council has stated the advent of gambling operations in Cincinnati has seriously eaten into gambling revenue at the Lawrenceburg Casino. BRC uses that fund for grant money projects, BRC chairman Todd Thackery said at the March meeting. An example is it is now paying for engineering studies for the sidewalk project to the school property from Fairfield Avenue. Then, the fund is reimbursed by money sent back by the Indiana Department of Transportation according to that grant’s guidelines.

That fund does not look to be increased at all and will not be replinished.

At the March 15 meeting, BRC members Darrel Flaspohler and Beth Foster as well as Thackery talked about waiting to see how much money the two ongoing projects will cost the BRC. They were responding to BRC secretary and Brookville Town Council member Brooke Leffingwell, who wanted to set aside money at the March 15 meeting for the sidewalk project.

“There are two projects we got right now that we need to look what we have in those,” Flaspohler said. “We have to complete those before we start anything. One hundred thousand in the bank now and another $100,000 coming in (estimate of annual property tax revenue) is not going to go very far. I’m fine with the sidewalk project, the matching, but we have to wait for what Nick Lawrence says also.”

Lawrence is with the Wheatley Group and is under contract with the BRC and the Franklin County Redevelopment Commission as an economic advisor.

“It might not benefit us to set aside a budget for that,” Thackery said.

Flaspohler explained a set aside budget is where the BRC commits a certain amount of money to a fund on an annual basis. He used the example of $50,000. And when that amount is gone in any given year, the BRC has to wait until the next year to supply more money for matching grants to be used in the project.

Foster said one of the problems, especially with the parking lot, is construction prices have greatly escalated since that project was first discussed. Also, the need for multiple retaining walls around much of the parking lot is one of the factors driving up the construction cost, Foster and Thackery said.

The parking lot program has been a very long ongoing process that began with a state program called Blight Elimination. It took years to jump through all the state loopholes to get the dilapidated structures on the property torn down. Since that occurred, the BRC has been trying to get the parking lot project completed.

Thackery showed an engineering plan to place seven parking spaces in the parking lot with an access drive to Sixth Street and a walkway from the parking lot, between Nixies and Korner’s Restaurant to Main Street. BRC members were emphatic at the March meeting, it would be a free parking lot without parking meters.

“I agree with Darrel with waiting on what is actually going to cost us before we start a new project,” Foster said.

However, Leffingwell continued to hit at the need to put aside money now. She said for those who contributed ideas for the 21 by 21 Project, sidewalks were the number one priority she garnered from those who responded.

“To me setting aside money for sidewalks would be important,” Leffingwell said.

However, Thackery remained adamant about waiting before committing money to that specific project.

“I think I would recommend not doing it tonight,” Thackery said. “First, finding out the legalities and how we can do it with TIF funds is probably the critical first step before we allocate (funds).”

Earlier in the meeting, Thackery said Lawrence is going to work on getting an ordinance written for the allocation of funds for the sidewalk project and also Lawrence is to research the legalities of the BRC spending money on that type of project.

From the TIF Districts program beginning around the state, the ways to use TIF funds have been greatly expanded. Later in the meeting, Leffingwell asked about using the money for landscaping, lighting in alleys and exterior work around town, and Thackery said he thought those were examples of where TIF funds can be expended.

BRC’s next meeting will be 6 p.m., Monday, April 19.