Colorado Legislators Pass Bill to Reform Tax Increment Finance Districts

"A pending state law would restrict how cities can finance urban renewal projects by changing how much in 'new' taxes can be used to repay city development loans and how much should be sent on to counties and other governments," reports Rachel Sapin. In this case, "new" taxes refer to tax increment finance districts, which have been used in Colorado for decades for redevelopment projects.

"Aurora officials say the changes made by House Bill 1375 could hamper or even stall redevelopment efforts in the city. County officials, however, say changes were needed because the growing number of urban renewal and redevelopment projects across the state were shorting other governments of tax revenues needed to provide county services."

Sapin's coverage provides insight into how the bill would affect the city of Aurora, where "about half of the city’s urban renewal areas use potential property taxes to fund redevelopment projects."