TID #3
Time for TID #3. Boundaries are shown in the picture below. Nicholson on the west. Railroad tracks on the east. Dunkelow on the south. Somebody's property line on the north, a bit south of 4 Mile Rd.
Unless I'm missing something in the analysis, I'll label this one underperforming to original expectations but not a disaster. Actually, not even close to a disaster.
Started in 2011, the original forecast called for development of new buildings whose valuation would be approximately $90M at completion of the TID in 2031. Infrastructure costs would be phased and cost roughly $12M. Phased is good because it leaves the flexibility to defer those costs if development isn't materializing. Eventual tax increment was forecast as $1.8M/yr.
So what has happened so far?
The good news is that the TID's tax increment *is* larger than the annual expense, by $40k and $33k respectively in the last two budgets. Those dollars go toward paying down the TID's infrastructure costs ever-so-slightly faster than if the TID just broke even. Go here (https://maps.app.goo.gl/98r2unTkmgFqDMheA) if you want to see some of the businesses that are there. Eg Wisconsin Industrial Supply Company, Starnet Technologies, Quick Cable Corporation, Priority Sign Manufacturing, Green Bay Packaging, and more.
The not so good (but not terrible) news is that the TID is well short of its forecast. By 2026, the tax increment was forecasted to be $1M and it is $353K. That's a heckuva lot better than TID 1 but still a tad disappointing. Is that a big deal, though? Well, only in that money is finite and if the village is allocating X dollars to TID 3, those dollars have to stay ready to be allocated there. And the total amount of TID infrastructure money is finite and has a state-mandated cap. So if you are consistently overestimating, you'll have financial resources sitting idle that could have been used for something productive. I don't suspect that Caledonia is close to tapping itself out, but being wildly optimistic is a bad habit to get into.
Now for the mysteries. I think all of the TIDs are going to have mysteries just because the data provided publicly on them is rather sparse.
$230K in "developer grants/incentives." I hunted and pecked through the state's TID filing portal and found just the name of the payee on some of that money. Hard not to put that tinfoil hat on when I saw "RCEDC" as a recipient in multiple years. Smallish dollar amounts -- $13k-ish -- but still. We already pay to be part of RCEDC. Inquiring minds want to know what they are charging us for in TID 3. Marketing maybe? If so, why isn't that the service we get for our joining fee?
2024 budget estimated a tax increment of $902k, up from $297k in 2023. Big new building completion probably, "ProBio development" is my best guess. 2025 budget, though, said oopsies, it's really only $564K. Then the 2026 budget is estimating $353K. Tax increments going down has to mean buildings that were rented are no longer rented and the valuation has dropped.