Redevelopment

The Rensselaer Redevelopment Commission met on Thursday afternoon. This is a body that oversees the Rensselaer TIF districts and makes decisions regarding them. They last met in October to consolidate two TIF districts. (See here.)

The revenue generated from improvements in the TIF districts flows to a special pot that can be used to finance improvements in the district. The Rensselaer fire station was financed by bonds that are backed by this kind of revenue. Annually the combined TIF districts generate about $790,000 of revenue but about $375,000 of that is needed to pay interest and principle on two bond issues.

The first item that was discussed did not involve new bonds but rather money raised from the bonds issued to fund the fire station. There is about $97,000 that was not spent and it can only be spent on the fire station or improvements to it. The proposal before the Commission was to use the money to install infrastructure for a new training facility on almost two acres of land that Marion Township recently purchased adjacent to the fire station and behind Kirby Risk and Dollar General.

Fire fighters have to undergo extensive training and at present that means trips to either Lafayette or Valparaiso. The biggest advantage of having a local training facility would be a reduction in the time spent on the road and the fuel costs of the travel. The cost of some of the things that would go into this training center would be borne by the State but there are other costs that must be paid locally. One of the things that are used in these facilities are converted shipping containers and they are provided by the State.

The members of the Commission had a lot questions. They wondered if this was the best use of the land and they had many questions about costs. Eventually they passed a motion to allow the money left from the past bond funding to be used on the training facility.

If you want to know more about this facility, there will be a public hearing on the matter at the April 14 Rensselaer BZA meeting at 7:00 pm.

The second item was downtown revitalization. The City would like to begin the revitalization by redoing the brick streets around the Court House Square. Included in this project would be replacing the utility lines that lie beneath the streets. The City is preparing with KIRPC a grant proposal (this may be on the agenda for an upcoming City Council meeting) to help fund this project, and the project will not go forward if the grant is not funded. However, the amount of the grant will not be enough to do all the work involved in this project. The City's financial advisor from Baker Tilly (which acquired Umbaugh and Associates last year) was on hand to explain how big of a bond issue the City could float to help finance the project. He ran through the numbers and said that with an annual bond payments of $250,000 a year funded from TIF revenues, the City could borrow about $3,365,000. However, various costs and fees must be paid from that so there would only be about $2,860,000 that could be spent on actual construction. The current estimate of the project is $2.5 million and the City is hoping for a grant of $600,000. The Commission voted to move forward with the project, but there are still other approvals that will be needed for the project to proceed.

I stopped in R&M Market on Friday. Most of the shelves are empty, but the refrigerated areas are still stocked. And they still had toilet paper. Have you joined the great toilet-paper panic of 2020 and stocked up? I can see some sense in buying toilet paper, but I do not understand the people who are stocking up on bottled water. The next few weeks should be interesting as many events are shutting down. Area schools are having extended spring breaks.

Another sign of spring: As I left the library on Friday afternoon wearing my winter coat, a young girl dressed in a tee shirt and shorts rode up on bike.