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Lee Perlman
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO
The Gateway Urban Renewal District, strapped for cash to accomplish its goals, is trying to secure a new form of financing.
The federal New Market Tax Credit program allows corporations to receive federal income tax credits, or deductions, in exchange for contributions to Community Development Entities (CDE). These are non-profit corporations that invest in private commercial, industrial and mixed-use development projects “with a heavy emphasis on job creation,” in the words of Portland Development Commission director Don Mazziotti.
Portland is applying for $250 million in tax credits. If the city secures the credits, they will be used initially in two areas: Northeast Martin Luther King Boulevard and Gateway. Dick Cooley, chair of the Opportunity Gateway Advisory Committee, would be co-chair of the CDE board, along with Sheila Holden of the North-Northeast Economic Development Alliance.
Traditionally, urban renewal districts use tax increment financing: any property taxes generated by increased land values in the district after it is formed are diverted to a special fund, for the sole use of the district that generated them. However, since last year’s Shiloh Inn court decision challenging how such taxes are collected, Gateway and other districts are left with “not a lot of money,” in the words of Opportunity Gateway board member and Hazelwood Neighborhood Association chair Arlene Kimura.
Of the tax credit program Kimura says, “I think it would be really exciting. Since Gateway is mostly commercial it’s appropriate to use this here.”
A decision on Portland’s tax credit application is expected in December.
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