JOPLIN, Mo. —
A deal may soon be reached between the Joplin School District and the city and its developer on a proposal to establish a tax increment financing district to help out with tornado recovery.
“We think we will be able to reach a reasonable resolution in the next 24 to 48 hours,” school Superintendent C.J. Huff told the school board on Thursday afternoon. Huff asked the board to meet again Monday if a final agreement is reached so that panel can act on it.
David Wallace, of Wallace Bajjali Development Partners, Joplin’s master developer, confirmed that discussions may be close to producing an outcome in favor of the TIF plan when he spoke Thursday night at a public hearing on it held by the city TIF Commission. Wallace said there have been a series of discussions this week. “I think we are extremely close” to reaching an agreement, he told the commission.
Neither he nor Huff would disclose any financial details that have been agreed upon to this point.
The city had offered a $12 million payment to offset the loss of revenue the school district would incur in the TIF district, but school administrators projected the loss as $16 million. That loss, they said, would come from freezing assessed valuations in the district at a post-tornado level that is about $39 million less than before the May 2011 storm.
Wallace told the TIF Commission the intent was “how can we get the school district back to pre-tornado funding and what impact will (the TIF district) bring? Both of those challenges have been articulated very well by the school district.”
School officials also want payments to offset the cost of any new students that enroll in the district as a result of the TIF district-generated development. The city and developer had offered $2,500 per student above the school’s population before the tornado. The school district is asking for $3,925.
Huff said last week the payment also would give the district capital expenses to build if new enrollment required another school. If not, the money would be returned to the TIF district, he said.
Huff told the school board Thursday that negotiations have “narrowed that gap significantly” in regard to the payments. Asked by the Globe how much money was being discussed now for those payments, Huff would only say, “We are still negotiating, but feel confident that we will find a way to close the per-pupil-funding gap that exists between Joplin schools and the city of Joplin.”
School officials have an obligation to assure that the district has the funds to fulfill its education mission, Huff said. “The TIF, as it was posed, would have created some insurmountable challenges” toward the cost of providing education at the level the district currently provides, he said.
“Can we make it and be just fine? Yes,” he told the board, if this final stage of negotiations works out.
During the discussions, it was the school district’s intent to protect the revenue from a 35-cent debt levy set to repay the $62 million bond issue voters authorized last year to help rebuild the school system, Huff said. If any of that revenue from increased growth went to the TIF district, it could take longer to pay off the bonds and cost the school district more money in interest, he said.
Board member Dawn Sticklen told the school board during its meeting, “I see it as more that the school district has a fiduciary duty to taxpayers rather than fighting over money.”
There were two speakers at the public hearing Thursday night other than Wallace.
Bill Pate, 111 S. Sergeant Ave., and Larry Allgood, Neosho, asked the commission to delay a vote until next year and take more time to study the possible consequences.
Pate said the tax base will be higher after the first of the year and could generate more money for the TIF district if it is enacted later. He said a large amount of money will go into the TIF district in its early years. “Perhaps this the time for prudent to take over rather than expediency,” he said.
Allgood, who owns a business in Joplin, voiced his opposition to the TIF proposal, saying it was a flawed approach.
The public hearing will continue again at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 14.
Chairman Doug Doll said that if the agreement is acceptable to all the taxing entities, the commission likely will take a vote after that public hearing.
Timeline
City Attorney Brian Head said the TIF Commission must vote on the TIF proposal by Dec. 14 in order for the City Council to consider it before the end of the year.
May 2011 Joplin tornado
Officials: Compromise close on TIF proposal
- May 2011 Joplin tornado
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Joplin insurance agent seeks donations for Moore, Okla.
After losing an office building and her home in the tornado on May 22, 2011, Loretta Bailey is familiar with the destruction that a tornado brings. The 400 households that her insurance agency helped through the aftermath of the tornado also know that loss. \
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SLIDESHOW: One year later, One day of unity, updated
Photos from a day of events commemorating the May 22, 2011 tornado anniversary
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Joplin team drove through storm to get to Moore
It was a long drive in the middle of a severe thunderstorm that had earlier produced a massive tornado in Moore, Okla. With the two-year anniversary of Joplin’s deadly twister approaching on Wednesday, a team of 14 Joplin emergency workers was ready to risk the trip in order to get help to a hurting Moore.
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Federal, state leaders salute Joplin’s recovery
A deadly May twister may have punched a hole in Joplin and Duquesne two years ago, but the resolve to repair it will help other communities stand strong when they face similar disasters. That was the message of state and national diginitaries to a crowd of about 2,500 who observed the second anniversary of Joplin’s devastating May 22, 2011, storm during a ceremony Wednesday in Cunningham Park.
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Banner from Joplin to be sent to Moore residents
A giant vinyl banner adorned with heartfelt messages from Joplin tornado survivors to the residents of Moore, Okla., became a centerpiece of Wednesday’s observance of the two-year anniversary of the May 22, 2011, tornado.
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Rick Rescorla award named for hero of Vietnam War, 9-11 terror attacks
The Rick Rescorla National Award for Resilience is named for a 62-year-old vice president of security for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. who directed an evacuation of the company’s 2,700-person workforce in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2011.
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Community gearing up for two-year anniversary ceremony this afternoon
With the playground full of children, it could be any other day at Joplin’s Cunningham Park, but the white tents popping up and neat rows of white chairs lined up nearby indicate something more is happening today.
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Farmers Insurance teams up with Rebuild Joplin
Farmers Insurance announced Tuesday that the company will team up with Rebuild Joplin for an initiative to help the community complete its recovery efforts. The company already has placed one of its executives in Joplin, and it is pledging additional funds and volunteer hours by company workers to go toward the city’s recovery.
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Joplin man continues struggle to recover two years after tornado
As the Joplin tornado passed overhead, sweeping the house at 2430 S. Pennsylvania Ave. away in its wake, there was a moment of calm. Delbert Mcguirk was on his back in the basement, where he had sought shelter along with his wife, daughter and two grandchildren. In that moment of relative quiet, he stared up into the eye of the tornado.
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Storms cause damage throughout the Four States
Four-State Area residents hunkered down twice Monday to ride out tornadoes and powerful spring storms, then went to work cleaning up. The worst damage from Monday night’s storm was being reported in Ottawa County, Okla., near Wyandotte. That followed a report of an EF-1 tornado early Monday morning near Carthage.
- More May 2011 Joplin tornado Headlines
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