Chattanooga and Hamilton County have six developer agreements for a specific special tax district, with another one on the way. This year, the county audited all of them.
The special tax districts are used by local governments to bring new development to an area without completely footing the bill. Typically, a developer will agree to commit to a project that local officials see as an opportunity for economic growth. In return, local officials will partially or fully reimburse the developer over time with tax revenue generated by the project in the area — usually from property taxes, though sometimes sales tax as well.
Discussions around this type of tax district for the Northgate Mall have been a subject of debate among Chattanooga City Council members, with the council recently deciding to move forward with the process to lock down an agreement with CBL Properties, which owns the mall. CBL would take on the costs of doing water and sewer upgrades in the area and get reimbursed at a target of nearly $9 million over a 20-year period.
Here are the other tax district agreements the city and county have entered into: