The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Thursday morning, passed a Resolution giving  the City of Anita permission to exercise its Urban Renewal Powers, with regard to the establishment of an Urban Renewal Plan and a Tax Incremental Financing (or, TIF) District within two-miles of the City’s boundaries.

Anita City Clerk Lindsey Jahde presented the Board with a copy of the proposed Urban Renewal Plan as prepared by the City’s bonding attorney. Jahde said the purpose of the plan is to capture revenue off of five wind turbines located within a two-mile radius of the City of Anita. She said there are five Capital Improvement Projects the City would use the funds for.

The first is blighted municipal waterworks system in the City of Anita. The City looks to upgrade its well and water treatment facility. The total project cost is about $2.1-million. Planning and Design is estimated to cost $102-thousand. Another project involves blight remediation of some of the City’s Streets which are currently gravel, and have no curbs and gutters for storm water run-off. That’s expected to cost $1.2-million.

One of the other 5 projects involves the improvement of Main Street, in Anita. Phase 1 Planning and Design for the projects is estimated to cost $150-thousand. Blight alleviation, in support of the Anita Economic Development Group is yet another project that would utilize TIF monies from the turbines.

Jahde said proceeds from the turbines alone won’t pay for all the projects, so the City intends to use other funds as they become available. It’s estimated over a period of 20-years, the five-turbines will bring in about $2.4-million in revenue. Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman said 2010 was the first year percentage add-ons could be captured from TIF revenue, so the City will be able to capture the last 15-percent over the next 20-years. It breaks down to 5-percent the first year, 10-percent the second year, and the third through the 20^th year, 15-percent.

Among the next steps for the City of Anita, is to hold a joint meeting between the Board of Supervisors and the Anita Community School District’s Board, along with a public hearing on the Urban Renewal plan November 26^th, prior to approval of the plan and ordinance. Final approval is necessary prior to December 1^st, because the City has to certify its debt by that date in order to capture the first 5-percent of the TIF revenue by freezing the base year at 2012, so they can begin with the  2013 valuations that will be taxed in 2014.