Downtown Development Authority (DDA)

Structure of the DDA – Village Council unanimously appointed the Planning Commission to serve as the DDA Board on October 16, 2019.

By ordinance, the governing body of a municipality that has a population of less than 5,000 may have the municipality’s planning commission created pursuant to former 1932 PA 285 or the Michigan planning enabling act, 2008 PA 33, MCL 125.3801 to 125.3885. serve as the [DDA] board provided for in subsection (1).

A planning commission serves the entire municipality and therefore an established planning commission can serve as a DDA board, since the DDA district cannot be larger than the municipal boundaries.

If the village wants the already charter-established municipal planning commission to also be the DDA board, the only limitations are that the population of the municipality be 4,999 or less and the planning commission was created pursuant to either 1931 PA 285 or 2008 PA33.

The Planning Commission/DDA is led by a 9-member Board of Commissioners. The members are nominated by the Village President, subject to approval by the Village Council. The Planning Commission’s primary role, involving DDA matters, is the redevelopment of Vicksburg’s downtown area.

The Planning Commission/DDA meets every month on the second Monday of the month at 7:00 PM in (Put location). All meetings are open to the public. Past minutes of the Planning Commission are available in Documents on Demand.

As required by recent State legislation (Michigan Public Act 57 of 2018) the Authority will hold two annual informational meetings. Informational meetings are meetings for the purpose of informing the public of the goals and direction of the authority, including projects to be undertaken in the coming year. They are not for the purpose of voting on policy, budgets or other operational matters. The meetings are tentatively scheduled to occur during the month of July and December.

Additionally, the DDA approves an annual budget which is subsequently approved and adopted by the Village Council. All financial statements of the authority are audited annually as well, and included in the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report that is completed by the Village of Vicksburg each year.

2022-2023 DDA Budget

This is an executive summary of the Village of Vicksburg 2022-2023 FY budget related to the Downtown Development Authority tax dollars.  This summary identifies projected tax revenue, potential grant revenue, and proposed expenditures for the July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023 time period.

 

The proposed programs and projects were based on a collection of data and input received from village staff, one on one conversations between the village manager and Planning Commission board members, results from a business survey that was distributed to every business within the DDA boundaries in April 2022, and public meeting discussions that took place during the Planning Commission meeting in the months of March, April and May, 2022.

 

This valuable public input developed a ‘Needs, Wants, and Wish’ list for the 2022-2023 DDA proposed budget, as well as identified future Capital Items that are included in the 10-year capital plan for the Village of Vicksburg.

 

We are using the 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 actual revenue as a basis for setting up the 2022-2023 FY Budget.  The following is how the DDA received revenue for the 2018-2019 FY20

 

Property Taxes		2018-2019	2019-2020	2020-2021	2021-2022
Village of Vicksburg		$36,574.24	$34,015.48	$35,165.24	$43,633.09
Schoolcraft Township		$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Brady Township		$20,841.49	$19,079.16	$21,493.79	$22,328.43
County of Kalamazoo		$5,008.39	$0.00	$1,702.45	$0.00
TOTALS		$62,424.12	$53,094.64	$58,361.48	$65,961.52

 

The difference is attributed to the millage rate being lowered, a Brownfield Plan on a DDA property, and appraised values. Kalamazoo County provides revenue only if an entity didn’t pay their taxes. In 2019-2020, there was not any outstanding taxes and therefor there was not any revenue from the County.

 

The Village entered the 2019-2020 FY with an approximate $129,907.09 unrestricted reserve fund of 248 tax dollars.  The Village and former DDA Board made a substantial investment in the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 FY by constructing and completing a new municipal parking lot on N. Kalamazoo Ave.  This project cost $176,676.00.  This parking lot was listed in the 2014 DDA Plan as Phase I (item #9) projects to be completed (Table 1, Page 14). Within the 2020-2021 FY the parking lot behind Main St. Pub and Laundry Mat was resurfaced. This project was nearly $60,000 and $40,000 was DDA tax revenue dollars. We had allocated $210,000.00 toward parking lot construction and/or assignments.

 

The 2014 DDA Plan list the following projects for Phase I development (Table 1, page 14). All of these projects will be completed in the 2021-2022 FY as a result of the infrastructure project without using DDA dollars:

 

1. Main Streetscape #1 Completed 2021-2022
2. Main Streetscape #2 Completed 2021-2022
3. Prairie Streetscape #3 Completed 2021-2022
4. Prairie Streetscape #4 Completed 2021-2022

 

We anticipate sponsorship revenue being generated for the 2022 Holiday parade.  We will create a 3^rd quarter amendment in the 2022-2023 FY that identifies the exact amount of revenue generated, but we estimate approximately $6,000.00 will be raised based on the past 3 years data.

 

We are anticipating that the 2022-2023 FY 248 tax revenue ($58,361.48) will exceed expenses by approximately $18,000.00.   We are operating under the belief that the unrestricted reserve balance will be approximately $110,000.00 as of June 30, 2021.

 

The Village of Vicksburg staff recommends the following for Downtown Development Authority 2022-2023 budget.

 

Village DDA District 248-000 estimated Revenue:  $ 165,500.00

Village DDA District 248- estimated expenses:  $ 92,000.00

 

This revenue figure represents an estimated $58,000.00 in DDA tax captures, $12,000.00 in Vicksburg Foundation Façade Grant, and $110,000.00 in commitments and/or assignments from the unrestricted reserve balance.

 

Village staff recommends that the DDA District tax dollars be invested in the following manner:

 

Village DDA District 248-213 Administrative Services Department:  $ 8,250.00

 

The investments from this Department include: Liability Insurance, Audit Services, Memberships/Dues, and other misc. investments.  Highlighted is the fact that this Department also includes the investment of $1,000.00 towards board membership training and $1,500.00 for strategic planning session that will include the            Vicksburg Council members as well.

 

Village DDA District 248-729 Economic Development Department:  $ 16,750.00

 

The investments from this Department include: A marketing plan developed by professional marketing company, billboard advertising, radio advertising, and the continuation DDA repainting program. A marketing program is detailed within the 2014 DDA TIF Plan on page 17.

 

Village DDA District 248-750 Streetscapes Department:  $ 7,500.00

 

The investment from this Department includes: Streetscape (Dog Stations, New American Flags, and Seasonal Flowers) for Prairie St, Washington St, Kalamazoo St, and Main St. Each of these items are listed within the DDA TIF Plan. *It should be noted that the infrastructure project will be outfitting the downtown with new benches, re-painted light poles, and state of the art charging station, etc.  Those purchases will not utilize 248 Tax Revenue.

 

Village DDA District 248-751 Parks and Recreation:  $ 17,500.00

 

The investment from this Department includes: A previous commitment of $12,500.00 to the re-development of Oswalt Park. (This will be carry-forward dollars from the unrestricted reserve balance). The amount reflects $5,000.00 from the 2021-2022 FY DDA revenue.  This project is listed on page 14 (Item #6 on Table 1 of Phase I projects) of the 2014 DDA Plan as “Oswalt Park Improvements”.  A fundraising campaign has been approved by the Village Council (Former Village President Bill Adams will lead).  The total cost of the project is estimated to be $225,000.00

 

Village DDA District 248-901 Public Benefit Grant Program:  $ 36,000.00

 

The façade program has been in place for multiple years and has demonstrated to be an investment that has substantial returns in our core downtown area. There was $30,000.00 available in the 2020-2021 FY and $6,840.00 associated with 3 downtown businesses.  It is staff recommendation to evaluate in the 2^nd quarter of the 2021-2022 FY, after the Fire Protection Grant has been completed.  During the 2^nd quarter, staff will recommend an amount of dollars for this program.

 

Village DDA District 248-966 Transfer to Other Funds:  $ 6,000.00

 

This is the amount that will be transferred to the General Fund 101-000 as a transfer in.  This is for administrative services performed by Village Staff and is identical to what occurs with the Brownfield and other funds within the overall Village financing. *The DDA invested $18K and $12K respectively during the 2015-2019 years and originally anticipated $6K in investments for accounting services for 19-20 FY.  It is important to emphasize, that once the $6,000.00 is transferred to the General Fund (101), the dollars can be re-invested in our Village, which is not possible when paying services of accounting, website, managing, etc to an outside vendor.

 

The approval of ‘committing and/or assigning’ dollars is a means to begin saving money for specific projects which are documented in the DDA TIF Plan.  Once that project is fully funded (usually it will be funded utilizing multiple village funds) it will then be re-presented to the DDA Board and Village Council for actual approval to begin the project. An example is committing money for the West Parking Lot.  This project is estimated to cost $500K.  We anticipate that this project would not be initiated prior to the 2026-2027 FY.  If there was a need to utilize the dollars between this FY and then, the dollars can be un-committed and re-assigned to the new need.

 

**It should be noted that there are dollars restricted for expenses associated with the Christmas parade and $30,000.00 restricted for the façade loan program provided by the Vicksburg Foundation.