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Ann Arbor Council Limits Downtown Development Authority Financing by 2016

Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority

Starting in 2016 Ann Arbor's Downtown Development Authority will have new limitations on the tax increment financing revenue they can capture. After nearly a year of discussions Ann Arbor City Council has given final approval to an ordinance amendment that limits the tax increment financing revenue the Downtown Development Authority can collect.  Last night, City Council voted 9 -  2 in favor of the change. 

WEMU's Andrew Cluley has more:
 

Starting in 2016 Ann Arbor's Downtown Development Authority's ability to capture tax increment financing will be capped at a growth rate of 3.5% a year.

City Council member Stephen Kunselman says the final ordinance amendment has critics who say it's too restrictive and others that say it doesn't go far enough. Additionally, Chair of the DDA board, Sandi Smith says the amendment is the result of some work done together. Smith however, still questions why city council is directing funds away from the city and to other taxing jurisdictions, citing that much of the discussion has been a neighborhood's verse downtown fight instead of focusing on working together to improve the entire community.
   
Kunselman says it's not an opposition to the downtown but the issue has been too much focus there and neighborhoods are suffering.
 

Like many, I first came to this area when I started school at the University of Michigan, then fell in love with the community and haven’t left. After graduating from U of M in the mid 1990’s I interned at WDET for several years, while also working a variety of jobs in Ann Arbor. Then in 1999 I joined the WEMU news team.
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