City Council Work Session: TIF, TDD, CID Overview (Nov 10, 2025)
City Council Work Session: Economic Development Tools Overview (November 10, 2025)
On November 10, 2025, the Columbia City Council held a working session to review the fundamentals and potential applications of Tax Increment Financing (TIF), Community Improvement Districts (CID), and Transportation Development Districts (TDD). Presenters from PGAV Planners discussed how these tools function within Missouri law, their interaction with existing district boundaries in the Business Loop, and examples of their use for public infrastructure and housing. The session also addressed community safety initiatives and the need for transparent, city-wide discussions regarding ongoing stakeholder meetings.
Consent Calendar
- No specific consent calendar items were processed or discussed during this work session; the meeting was dedicated to educational presentation and discussion.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Community members expressed active concern regarding downtown safety and the visibility of city responses to these issues.
- Council members requested that current private discussions with community groups regarding downtown safety be converted into public, city-wide meetings to ensure full council participation and transparency.
- A member emphasized the need to move away from a reactive posture and instead proactively address narratives regarding safety and homelessness as outlined in previous community surveys.
Discussion Items
Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Fundamentals
- Presentation: Andy Struckhoff (President, PGAV Planners) and Susie presented on TIF mechanics, defining it as a public-private partnership tool that uses incremental property taxes (up to 100%) and sales taxes (up to 50%) to fund revitalization within a defined redevelopment area.
- Super TIF: The concept of a "Super TIF" was introduced, which allows for the reallocation of incremental state revenues if a project is anticipated to bring net new tax revenue to the state of Missouri.
- Blight and Conservation Tests: The criteria for designating an area as a "blighted area" (deterioration, public health dangers, etc.) or a "conservation area" (buildings 35+ years old, disinvestment, obsolete uses) were reviewed.
- The "But For" Test: Council discussed the requirement to prove that development would not reasonably be expected to occur without TIF incentives.
- Timeline: The session clarified that a TIF district cannot exceed 23 years, with a redevelopment project required to be approved within 10 years of area designation.
Business Loop & Potential TIF District
- Proposed Area: A conceptual map was presented for a potential TIF district along the Business Loop, largely coinciding with the existing Loop Community Improvement District (CID).
- Exclusions: City-owned properties, specifically the power plant and Moore's Lake, were excluded from the current conceptual boundaries due to charter restrictions on utility land use.
- Residential Inclusion: The map includes pockets of residential property; staff clarified that while conversion to commercial use is not the primary goal, existing residential structures may remain if their owners choose, or be repurposed if investment opportunities arise.
- Relationship with Existing CID: Staff noted that the business loop already has a CID and discussed how TIF revenue (specifically 50% of incremental sales tax) can be layered with CID revenue to fund public improvements.
Housing and Affordable Development
- Precedents: Presenters provided examples from Quincy, Illinois, and Memphis, Tennessee, where TIF revenues were used to create revolving loan funds or direct grants for housing rehabilitation and new residential development, including affordable housing.
- University Partnerships: Council inquired about using TIF on university lands (e.g., University of Missouri). Staff cited the University of Kansas project, which layers TIF, STAR (Sales Tax and Revenue), and CID districts to finance stadium and student housing improvements, noting that incremental sales taxes from such developments can still flow back to supporting taxing bodies.
Downtown Safety and Stakeholder Engagement
- Meeting Transparency: Council members Jackie, Betsy, and Nick pushed for a formal, city-wide work session to address ongoing discussions regarding downtown safety, rather than allowing these to remain in fragmented pre-council or private stakeholder meetings.
- Proposed Participants: Suggestions for the proposed safety meeting included the CID, the Police Department, the City, the University, and the Chamber of Commerce.
- Narrative Correction: Council recognized the need to proactively correct public misconceptions regarding safety and homelessness actions, emphasizing the importance of reviewing past community survey data and current action items.
Key Outcomes
- Educational Foundation: The Council received a comprehensive overview of TIF, CID, and TDD statutes, acknowledging them as viable tools for the Business Loop revitalization and potential future university-related developments.
- Next Steps for Safety: The Council agreed to schedule a dedicated work session to discuss downtown safety. This meeting will aim to include city staff, the CID, the University, and relevant community stakeholders to ensure a unified, transparent, and proactive approach.
- Information Dissemination: Staff agreed to provide the Council with the Gilmore and Bell summary of economic development tools (2025 update) and to retrieve minutes and action items from the December 4th University meeting for full Council review.
- Boundary Clarification: The City acknowledged that the proposed Business Loop TIF boundaries are currently conceptual and subject to further public input and comprehensive plan alignment as the project progresses.
Meeting Transcript
It makes me feel weird though to not do that. So it's Monday, November 10th, 9 a.m. 2025, and we are here to talk about tax we know, TIFFs, among other things, I see. So Dekar, then I'm gonna kick it over to you. Thank you, ma'am. So uh as we as we start looking at how can we work on redevelopment of some of our commercial areas or just development, period. And one of the tools that we could utilize is TIF, you know, tax incremental finance. And so what I want to do is have a presentation from members from PGAV. So I have Andy and Susie here, and I'm sorry, I don't want to butcher your last name, so I'll let you introduce yourselves. But they're gonna kind of give a rundown of what TIFF is, how it operates, how it works, and then what a potential TIFF could look like on our business district. And on our on the downtown, not the downtown, but the loop business, C I D. Okay. So kind of the PKV, take it over. Can I can I ask um PGAB? What is that? What does it stand for? Yeah. PGAV stands for Peckham, Gitan, Albers, and VITS. Okay. The four guys that founded the company. I'm sorry. The four people who founded the company. Okay. And this is a company that does. They're a planning development firm. And so they kind of look at no communities and kind of help you develop your development district plans. I'm fairly certain their first slide is introducing who they are. Yes. Okay, sorry. And I didn't want to butcher their I didn't want to butcher the last name, so I just said PGAV. So thank you. Here we go. Thank you for the introduction. We'll just go ahead and jump right into it. My name is Andy Struckhoff. I'm the president of PGAV Planners, a little bit more about PGAV and who we are. We are a consulting firm. We work in economic development, urban planning, and development finance consulting. We were founded in 1965 in St. Louis, Missouri. We have offices in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Orlando, Florida. Our practice spans uh the country. We were active in 35 states. Our destinations practice is active across five continents. And a little bit more about the company broadly. PJV planners is one part of PJV. There's also PJV architects, which is general services architecture firm. They do a lot of work with uh the University of Missouri, for example, uh the University of Kansas system as well, a lot of uh university work that they do across the Midwest, PJV destinations, remaster plan and design theme parks and aquariums and tourism destinations across the planet. But Susie and I were here to talk to you this morning about tax increment financing.
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