Flowood approves Refuge Town Center TIF plans

Feb. 2, 2022

Source: Rankin County News

FLOWOOD- The city of Flowood and the Rankin County Board of Supervisors have pledged to potentially provide funding to offset public infrastructure costs incurred by developers of the proposed Refuge Town Center, a 162- acre mixed- use project planned to stretch from Flowood’s Medical Parkway to Hox Hall Road.

                The developer, Old Pearl Farms, LLC, “anticipates the total private investment will be in excess of $175 million,” while the project “represents a private investment in excess of $125 million and will create construction jobs with an estimated payroll of approximately $45 million,” according to a financial packet provided by Gouras & Associates.

                The project, if developed as proposed, will dramatically increase annual ad valorem, or property tax, revenue for the city, the county, and the Rankin County School District.

Old Pearl Farms, LLC “projects that the city’s annual real and personal property taxes generated by the TIF (tax Increment Financing) District will increase by $480,281,” while the county’s property taxes will increase by $966,297 annually.

                The county School District, which is exempt from the proposed TIF funding plan, would see an annual increase in real and personal property taxes of $1,339,504, according to the Gouras document.

                The area where the Town Center is proposed to be developed is described as raw land served by no utilities that would be transformed into a “modern mixed-use development and provide much-needed road improvements to serve the public. The use of tax increment financing is a inducement that will result in the development of vacant and underdeveloped prime property in the city and county.”

                To that end, Flowood has authorized the issuance of TIF bonds not to exceed $7 million, while the county has pledged to provide 20 mils, or half of its annual tax assessment to reimburse installation of infrastructure, but those commitments come with a caveat.

                “The developer must install and pay for all improvements in the TIF District, including the streets, sewer, water lines, fire protection, ect., before Flowood or the county are obligated to (provide TIF funding),” Board of Supervisors Attorney Craig Slay said.  “If the developer performs, the city will issue the TIF bonds to reimburse (the cost) of the public infrastructure. The county will pledge 50 percent of its expected ad valorem (revenue). The bonds will be repaid, using the ad valorem taxes as payment, over 15 years.”

                The developer must see that the installation of public infrastructures in accordance with Flowood’s codes and requirements, and “then, and only then,” according to Slay, would the city and county be obligated to reimburse Old Pearl Farms, LLC, using property tax increases generated by development of the Town Center over a period of 15 years.

                Flowood City Attorney Rusty Fortenberry echoed that. “The Board (of Aldermen) agreed with the intent to go forward (with the TIF plan),” Fortenberry said following Flowood’s January 18 meeting. “The Board still has discretion, and may issue the (TIF) bonds, and controls the time,” he said. “The development has to be done within the constraints that are satisfactory to the city, and that has to be approved. And it has to be at a point in time when the project can support the payments.”