Northgate tax proposals looking good for Pocatello

The Northgate Project will finally be open to the public. Developers will be holding tours of the development area Friday. They will be showing the land and answering questions about the project. The bus tour will begin at 10 a.m. and they will also have a bike tour at 2 p.m.

The city council met with the Pocatello Development Authority to discuss the final stages of the tax proposal Thursday. Specifically, it was an informational meeting regarding the Northgate Area has a Tax Increment Financing District; also known as a “tift” district.

Buck Swaney, a developer at the Millennial Development Partners, suggested that this tax proposal will benefit Pocatello. “Tax increment financing district or “tift” district is one of the tools out there that allow us to allow us to be reimbursed with new money that’s created by new taxes.”

This means that it would have no effect on current Pocatello tax rates. “As we create new properties worth more money they come onto the tax roles that new benefit can reimburse those investments and infrastructure.”

In most cases, cities will bond for an infrastructure like the Northgate project. In short, a tax program where the city gets new money for the development. However, in this case, that won’t happen. “We build the infrastructure and use new tax increment that we create to pay it back. It has no burden on the general public where a bonding situation does.”

This tax proposal is still in the approval process. Once it has been passed, that’s when the building begins.