Miller estimated that there would be a $9 million property tax shift over the 23-year period.
In an interview Wednesday, it was clarified that he was talking about the three TIF districts the city has proposed this year.
The biggest, the Virginia Street TIF will cause a shift of $4.9 million to other taxpayers, Miller figures. It has already been approved.
The Vulcan Lakes/Route 14 TIF will cause other taxpayers to see their tax bills increase $2.3 million, while the Main Street TIF will hike taxes outside the district by $1.6 million.
Miller said his basic assumption was that the assessments in the TIF districts would increase at the rate of 5% per year, if the properties were not put in TIFs.
“We hope the city council considers the tax increase,” Miller said, in its deliberations on the TIF districts.
Ellen Brady Mueller asked if District 47 would continue its tax levy procedures.
“District 47 is going to get its tax money,” he answered. He said that freezing any part of the tax base would lead to a higher tax rate to raise the real estate tax component of the $72 million budget.
“It’s a tax shift. Our job is to point that out.”
Putting it another way under questioning from Mayor Aaron Shepley, Miller said, “If there is property that is increasing in assessed value, it changes our tax rate. If you take that away, it changes our tax rate and shifts it to someone else.”
Saying he was trying to “summarize” Miller’s testimony, Shepley referred to the “so-called tax shift.” The mayor referred to a “gross disparity in the tax shift.”
“There’s a disparity of what you project and what we project,” Miller replied. “My assumptions are based on history, not speculation.”
Miller pointed out that all property increases in assessed value each year because of the township multipliers which reflect inflation.
“We’re going to have natural growth,” he pointed out.
Pressing Miller was councilman Jeff Thorson.
“If we take advantage of the opportunity now, maybe we can build something that will last centuries,” he said.
Referring to the recently reported sale of Conlon-Collins Ford for $7.2 million, Miller observed, “Our eyes open when we see a piece of property, see a developer without a TIF district.”