PICKING OUR POCKETS

US Ethanol Plants Look to Tax-Free Financing

A company called Center Ethanol plans to use up to US$30 million in TIF bonds given initial approval last month to build a plant in Sauget, Illinois, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri, according to officials.

The bonds will tap incremental increases in Sauget area property taxes and will be exempt from both state and federal taxes, said Michael Lundy, executive director of the Southwestern Illinois Finance Authority, which approved the financing.

In New Jersey, the state's Economic Development Authority has given preliminary approval to US$84 million in tax-exempt, solid-waste bonds for a waste-to-ethanol facility in Dover Township, according to agency spokesman Glenn Phillips. The state has enough private-activity volume cap to cover the issue.

In central Ohio's Coshocton, Los Angeles-based Altra Inc. broke ground on Tuesday on a US$100 million ethanol plant that will be partly financed with up to US$85 million of air quality bonds approved by the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=37253

Will the people of Webster County be told to help pay for a certain ethanol plant that will both deplete the Ozark Aquifer at the same time polluting that aquifer by returning wastewater to the aquifer, thru the use of TIF Bonds? Tax Increment Financing (Local TIF) permits the use of a portion of local property and sales taxes to assist funding the redevelopment of certain designated areas within your community. Areas eligible for Local TIF must contain property classified as a "Blighted", "Conservation" or an "Economic Development" area, or any combination thereof, as defined by Missouri Statutes.
TIF may be used to pay certain costs incurred with a redevelopment project. Such costs may include, but are not limited to:

Professional services such as studies, surveys, plans, financial management, legal counsel
Land acquisition and demolition of structures
Rehabilitating, repairing existing buildings on site
Building necessary new infrastructure in the project area such as streets, sewers, parking, lighting
Relocation of resident and business occupants located in the project area

This info is from the State of Missouri's web page at:
http://www.missouridevelopment.org/topnavpages/Research%20Toolbox/BCS%20Programs/Local%20TIF.aspx