Eyeing new medtech campus near Highway 14, Fitchburg looks to TIF to make it happen | Local administration

Mayor Aaron Richardson wants to create a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district to develop an undeveloped, arable field east of South Seine Road south of Haight Farm and Lacey roads. The development, with the moniker Hartung Fields, will expand the city’s tax base for science, technology and laboratory companies and could complement other clusters of nearby med-tech facilities.

With a shortage of lab space in the greater Madison area, the development will be an ideal location for lab facilities to establish themselves, said Michael Zimmerman, Fitchburg’s director of economic development.

“Science, technology, medical and laboratory companies are the types of industries we want to attract to Fitchburg in the Harting Field development,” Zimmerman said.

With TIF, the city and other local taxing authorities agree to freeze property values ​​in an area. Tax revenue from development is spent on private development or public infrastructure. When the investments are returned, the district is closed and the high value property is fully returned to the tax records. The city can leave the districts open for an additional year to generate funds for affordable housing.

Under the plan, the city expects to spend $34 million on infrastructure improvements in the district.

Authorities can either pay for improvements directly, reimburse developers for the costs through incentives, make developers pay for them in full, or do a combination of all three.

The City Council will have final approval on any deals with developers at a later date, Zimmerman explained.

An investment group representing seed supplier Harting Brothers Inc. first approached the city about developing the company’s property at the southeast corner of South Seine Road and Lacy Road, Zimmerman said. Interest in the comments prompted exploration of the new TIF circuit.

The development is projected to create more than $182 million in new value, according to the district’s project plan.

However, if Fitchburg were to create the district, it would be pushing the property tax rate available for TIF development under state law, which is 12 percent. This number is about $492 million in Fitchburg. In the new district, $464 million of taxable city property will be in the TF district.

Fitchburg, like many municipalities, has long used TIF to encourage other development, including med-tech companies.

Recently, the city closed TID 6, whose infrastructure improvements led Orchard Point Target and $111 million in new property values. Money from that district paid for other improvements in the city and shoveled $2.67 million into an affordable housing fund. Other TIF districts inspired the creation of the Fitchburg Business Park and the reconstruction of North Fish Hatchery Road.

TIF has helped spawn another cluster of med-tech companies on the city’s north side. The TIF district, home to the Promega Agora complex on East Sherrill Parkway, generated about $221 million in new property value for Fitchburg.

Closing TID 4 of that district next year will add about $5 million to the city’s affordable housing fund.