Two Properties In Janesville TIF District Receive Revitalization Orders From The City. City Demands Owners Pay.

A recent story from the Janesville Gazette (pay site - no link) states that the city of Janesville issued raze-or-repair orders for the long vacant Monterey Hotel and another building at 13 N. Main St. The properties, both inside the city's expanded downtown TIF District, appear to be early targets for revitalization. Much like the former GM Plant on the city's south side, the first major step to revitalize those properties appears to be limited to either raze or repair.

But the key difference between the GM Plant and the downtown properties is downtown Janesville is in a TIF District while GM is not. What that means is city officials have determined that the entire downtown is blighted and slated for renewal and the TIF District designation was created to facilitate redevelopment projects.

Unfortunately, according to the newspaper report, it appears the city is planning to bill the property owners if the city initiates revitalization by force, despite having TIF surplus funds set aside for this purpose.

Several immediate questions come to mind. Were these raze or repair orders issued with malice or prejudice? What is the intent of a TIF district and what are TIF surplus funds used for? Why are some outside developers given land for free with forgivable loans while longtime property taxpayers are seemingly punished?

If the city believes tearing down buildings including the iconic Monterey Hotel is an improvement (they obviously do, otherwise, why give the order?), and part of downtown revitalization efforts, and writes orders for raze or repair of those buildings that reside in a TIF District, the city should be obligated to commit TIF district surplus funds to those properties to facilitate those improvements - for the owner - and leave the decision to raze or repair to the owner. In these cases, the funds should be there for the property owners just for the asking, especially more so if those properties are significant (they are) enough to the point that the city has singled them out (they did).

And the beauty about those TIF funds, according to some wealthy developers - it cost local taxpayers nothing.