Urban renewal authority reform bill advances in state Legislature
“The Colorado House of Representatives late Friday afternoon gave initial approval to the bill after a long debate about how cities across the state are using urban renewal authorities and tax increment financing to restore blighted areas.
#“The goal here is not to shut down economic activity here in Colorado. It’s to bring more fairness to the process between cities and counties,” bill sponsor Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland, said before the vote.
#Cities and counties long have sparred about cities’ use of urban renewal authorities to redirect property tax growth in a redevelopment area toward improvement projects.
#Some counties see this redirection of property taxes as a siphoning off of tax dollars they and other taxing entities such as school districts think they otherwise would be getting.
#But cities see the urban renewal authority as an important tool to redevelop areas they think wouldn’t be successfully improved by private development.”
Franz, Scott. Steamboat Today 25 April 2014.