Chattanooga officials plan to seek outside help as they evaluate future costs and benefits of economic development projects and the property tax and other incentives used to woo companies.
Nick Wilkerson, Chattanooga's deputy administrator for economic development, said Wednesday a request for professional services has been drafted and he's hopeful the city can receive recommendations by this spring.
Andy BerkeThe work is expected to include an evaluation of such incentives as payment-in-lieu-of-tax agreements, tax-increment financing and others, he said.
Wilkerson said the aim is to promote economic development by giving officials a better sense of where to focus the city's attention and resources.
"What other types of tools and incentives are we not doing?" he asked. "Are we focusing our energy where we should be focusing our energy?"
He said Mayor Andy Berke has "worked hard to make sure the city got good deals. The city wanted to understand how ... we go out there and make our economic development efforts stronger and better."
Helen Burns Sharp, a Chattanooga activist who has raised questions about business incentives, said there needs to be policies and procedures developed.
Also, she said, the city ought to beef up the so-called claw-back provisions in incentive packages. These provisions state, for example, how much in property taxes a company will need to return to government if the business doesn't follow through with its hiring and investment plans.
"I hope this is comprehensive and brings some law and order into this," Sharp said.
She told the city's Industrial Development Board on Wednesday there are 63 PILOT agreements on the books approved by that panel, Hamilton County's IDB and the city's Health, Education and Housing Facilities Board.
The city IDB has OK'd 38, the county IDB 15 and the Health, Education board 10 PILOTS, Sharp said.
Wilkerson said there are academic personnel and consulting professionals who do the kind of work the city is seeking.
"It will help us understand and dig into thinking through how we're structured and what we're looking to do," he said. "It gives us a fuller picture."
Sharp has filed a couple of lawsuits related to the city IDB. In the first, Hamilton County Chancellor Frank Brown voided the board's award of more than $9 million in taxpayer support to the developers of a golf course community at Aetna Mountain, citing violations of the state's open meetings act and questions about whether the project even qualified for public funds. The panel later revoted to approve the financing.
A second lawsuit claims the city IDB has run afoul of Tennessee's Sunshine Law because it again met secretly to discuss how to deal with previous violations.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.