2019-2020 DDA Budget
At the May DDA board meeting, Village staff led a group exercise which identified the Needs, Wants, and Wishes of the DDA board members. This exercise was conducted at a public meeting and involved members of the public, who were present, to have input as well. The process provided each member with the opportunity to list out their individual opinions of the needs, wants, and wishes as well as listing the ‘Brick and Motor’ and ‘Non-Brick and Motor’ needs of the DDA District. Members who were not in attendance at the meeting had the opportunity to provide input via email.
We have attached an excel spreadsheet of the entire list of Needs, Wants, and Wishes. The priorities of ‘Infrastructure Needs’ and ‘Non-Infrastructure Needs’ were identified as well.
We will be consistent with our budgeting philosophy in that we analyzed a historical trend of revenue that the DDA Capture generates and develop budget recommendations based on approximately 85-90% of that revenue. An important fact to highlight is that the DDA boundaries were appropriately set for the 2018-2019 FY. Due to this, we are using the 2018-2019 actual revenue as a basis for setting up the 2019-2020 FY Budget. The following is how the DDA received revenue for the 2018-2019 FY:
Property Taxes:
Vicksburg $ 36,574.24
Schoolcraft Township
Brady Township $ 20,841.49
County of Kalamazoo $ 1,040.20
Total $ 58,455.93
There is a substantial unrestricted reserve balance that the DDA has accumulated over the past 2 years. There was a $217,000 balance entering the 2018-2019 FY and it is anticipated that an additional $ 26,000.00 will be added. We are operating under the belief that the unrestricted reserve balance will be $243,000.00 as of June 30, 2019.
The Village of Vicksburg staff recommends the following for Downtown Development Authority 2019-2020 budget.
Village DDA District 248-000 estimated Revenue: $ 300,100.00.
This figure represents an estimated $50,600.00 in DDA tax captures, $12,000.00 in Vicksburg Foundation Façade Grant, and $237,500.00 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: $ 11,250.00
The investments from this Department include: Liability Insurance, Audit Services, Memberships/Dues, Website Services, 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: $ 11,200.00
The investments from this Department include: A promotional video, 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: $ 16,500.00
The investments from this Department includes: Streetscape (Benches, Dog Stations, Wayfinding-Signage, New Banners, and Seasonal Flowers) for Prairie St, Washington St, Kalamazoo St, and Main St. All of these items are listed within the DDA TIF Plan.
Village DDA District 248-751 Parks and Recreation: $ 12,500.00
The investment from this Department includes: Committing $12,500.00 to the re-development of Oswalt Park. (The 101-751 Department adds potentially $50,000.00 to this amount and we will evaluate submitting a grant to the Vicksburg foundation after January 1, 2020). This project is listed on page 15 of the 2014 DDA Plan as Oswalt Park Improvements.
Village DDA District 248-756 Parking Lot Projects: $ 210,000.00
The investment from this Department includes: Construction cost for a 29 space parking lot on N. Kalamazoo Ave. ($8,000.00 was invested in the engineering and survey cost in the 20-18-2019 FY for this parking lot to be constructed.) and a commitment of $75,000.00 to the future construction/re-build of the large municipal parking lot West of Main St. behind the businesses. (A goal of creating the opportunity of double facades for those businesses). The construction cost of the 29-space parking lot has a 20% contingency built into the projection. Should the actual cost of construction be less than projected, we would recommend that the savings be committed to the West parking lot as well. These projects are listed in the 2014 DDA TIF Plan under “Phase I”; numbers 9 and 7 respectively, of Table I Estimated Cost and Timetable. There is a description for each parking lot project on page 15 of the 2014 DDA TIF Plan as well.
Village DDA District 248-901 Facade Grant Program: $ 25,500.00
The investment from this Department includes: Vicksburg Foundation grant ($12,000.00) being matched ($12,000.00) for $24,000.00 being available for facades improvements as well as potential attorney expenses. 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.
Village DDA District 248-966 Transfer to Other Funds: $ 4,000.00
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 for the past 2 years and originally anticipated $6K in investments for accounting services for 19-20 FY. It is important to emphasize, that once the $4,000.00 is transferred to the General Fund (101), the dollars can be re-invested in our Village, which is not possible when paying an outside accounting service.
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 ($75K). This project is estimated to cost $600K. We anticipate that this project would not be initiated prior to the 2023-2024 FY. If there was a need to utilize the $75K between this FY and then, the dollars can be uncommitted and re-assigned to the new need.
