Lake Ozark Forms TIF Commission

First TIF district proposal expected to encompass 450 acres; city administrator favors swift action before formal change in state law

By Justin Ludwig/Lake Sun
April 25, 2006

LAKE OZARK — Officials and appointees formed the Lake Ozark Tax Increment Financing Commission on Thursday. With the help of the TIF commission, the City of Lake Ozark’s valuation will soon grow from $50 million to $500 million, City Administrator Charles Clark said during an opening address to commissioners. “We have enormous potential,” Clark said. Tax increment financing (TIF) is one way cities can help finance new capital projects by taking advantage of expected property tax returns. A city may designate as a TIF district a plot of land for redevelopment. The city can then borrow against expected increased tax revenues to build infrastructure such as sewers and transportation services.

The commission’s six city-appointed commissioners — local businessmen and residents — held the organizational meeting and voted for officers Thursday, but did not adopt bylaws. Bylaws will be drafted by the city’s bonding counsel, Kutak Rock LLP, and should be available for commissioners to look at in time for the next meeting, Clark said.

Once a TIF application has been submitted, more will likely join the commission as other taxing districts are notified. By law, tax entities who have a stake in a TIF district, such as counties and school districts, must have the opportunity for representation on TIF commissions.

In Camdenton, for example, the city’s TIF commission includes six city-appointed members, two from the county, two from the school and one from the ambulance district.

“As you have applications, then the county commissioners and those other taxing districts are included,” Clark said. Then once an application is approved, or denied, the standing memberships from the taxing districts are dropped, he added.

The first TIF district proposal in Lake Ozark is expected to come from the Stanton Trust. The Trust’s undeveloped 450 acres in the city’s interior district is slated for commercial and residential development, George Stanton said.


The largely untouched land has already been approved as part of a transportation development district (TDD) — making way for the Horseshoe Bend Parkway extension project, which would connect Route HH to Highway 54 near the Osage River.

The TIF commission and the TDD board are the left and right hands of the same project, Clark said. The TDD will pay for the road, while the TIF district will pay for sewer and water connections, he said.

Although TIF laws were originally created for urban renewal projects, most TIF plans today are not implemented in urban areas, Kutak representatives told commissioners.


The Trust’s land would qualify as a TIF because it meets the definition of a “blighted area” under state law, Clark said.

Clark told TIF commissioners that state laws allowing undeveloped areas to qualify for TIF as blighted areas are in the process of being amended. The application for Stanton Trust’s 450 acres area must be approved by commissioners before new laws take effect Aug. 28, or the loophole may be closed, disqualifying the Lake Ozark land from meeting blight conditions, Clark added.

“We’re going to be proceeding as quickly as possible,” Chairman Don Roemerman said.


The change in law is evidence that some Missouri lawmakers consider the state’s definition of blight as too broad. Undeveloped areas, such as the city’s interior Ozark forest, meet blight definitions by economic criteria, city officials said.

Roemerman acknowledges the definition is open to interpretation, but Clark does not discount the method.

“It’s a valid funding mechanism that we’re obligated to consider within the terms of the law. If it meets the definition, then it meets the definition,” Clark said.


The Stanton Trust project “is unlikely to go forward with any other funding means,” Clark added.

The city expects to receive the Trust’s TIF application before the next commission meeting on May 4, so a public hearing for the application can be set by commissioners.

Once a public hearing is held, and other taxing districts are represented on the commission, commissioners will vote on a recommendation to the board of aldermen. Aldermen would then approve, or not approve, the ordinance establishing the TIF district and its redevelopment plan.


Other TIF applications could be submitted later this year, Clark said, including a high-rise and a possible proposal to redevelop the old quarry on Highway 54.

The high-rise is expected to be proposed somewhere along Business Highway 54, within the land currently being rezoned as CR-3, commercial/residential. CR-3 allows for multi-story buildings with commercial offices in the first two floors and residential suites above.

The old quarry is expected to be redeveloped as a retail shopping center.


Contact this reporter at justin@lakesunleader.com