Hallock City Council approves TIF district
By Anna Jauhola
The Hallock City Council approved a plan establishing a residential tax increment financing, or TIF, district at its Monday, July 6 meeting.
The TIF district encompasses the more than 100 parcels in the residential addition on the south edge of town, plus parcels scattered throughout town, including the former elementary school lot.
The city has been considering implementing a TIF district for some time, which is designed to help promote housing development throughout the town.
“The timing of this is good,” said Aimee Sugden, Hallock city administrator. “We have two people interested in building on the south end who don’t currently live here. Two houses sold in the last couple of weeks throughout town. And we had two people asking about EDA loans recently and we still get tons of questions about rentals. So doing something like this is a step in the right direction to provide more housing.”
The Hallock Housing Committee recommended establishing a TIF district to the city council in March after meeting with Jason Murray from David Drown Associates, which created the TIF plan for the city.
These districts carry housing income limitations. Anyone can build within a district, but only qualify for assistance through the TIF if they make under $88,600 as a family of two or fewer and under $101,890 with a family of three or more.
All money captured through a TIF district is put into a designated fund to improve infrastructure within the district – streets, curb, gutter, sewer and so on.
No one from the public attended the hearing and no one who viewed the livestream on Facebook commented.
The full resolution and/or TIF plan are both on file in the city office, located in Hallock City Hall, if anyone is interested in reading each document fully.
The council approved establishing the TIF district 4-0, with Councilor Kevin Waller abstaining from the vote as he is chair of the Hallock Housing Committee.
In other business, the council:
• Approved officially hiring city summer help and summer help payscale with Councilor Jennifer Peterson abstaining from both votes – Alex Lindegard, $11/hour, and Matthew Stewart, $11.50/hour, summer maintenance; Morgan Olson, Megan Larson, Jenna Davis and Cheyanne Scalese, each $11.50/hour, and McKenna Peterson, $12.00/hour lifeguards; Peyton Klein, pool manager, $14.04/hour; Nick Johnson, summer rec coach, $12.26/hour.
• Approved Police Chief Mike Docken to purchase two 20 mph signs to replace fading signs along 7th Street, which leads to the pool.
• Approved zoning permits for Lori Gustafson, who built a privacy fence, and Corey Plaine, who is replacing a former garage with a storage shed.
