Denver City Council gives initial OK to funding new downtown projects
“The Denver City Council gave initial approval Monday to extending tax-increment funding that paid for downtown projects two decades ago to build new projects in the city’s core.
In 1992, the city issued $60 million of bonds for the Downtown Urban Renewal Plan that paid for several projects at a time when the city was losing business. The bonds built what is now the Sheraton hotel, created the Denver Pavilions and redeveloped Mercantile Square.
The Denver Urban Renewal Authority funded a portion of each project through tax-increment financing, or TIF, which allows the agency to collect all sales and property taxes in defined areas to pay off the bonds.
The 1992 bonds were paid off Sept. 25. Now DURA wants to continue to collect sales and property tax to fund more downtown projects, expecting to raise about $65 million before the expiration of the TIFs occur in 2017 and 2020.
DURA will use the money to help construct a King Soopers at 20th Street and Chestnut Place, help build a downtown school and for underground parking at Denver Union Station.”
Meyer, Jeremy. Denver Post 28 October 2013.