New TIF Reporting Requirements Enacted

Last week, Governor Evers signed SB-252 into law as Act 142, which increases the information that municipalities must include in the annual TIF reports filed with DOR. The bill as a originally introduced focused on extending the termination date and expenditure period for a tax incremental district in the Wisconsin Dells. However, the chair of the Senate Committee on Government Operations, Sen. Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville), orchestrated an amendment to the bill requiring any municipality to include in its annual TID reports the following information:

  • The value of new construction in the TID, less the value of improvements removed from the TID.
  • An analysis of the impact on property taxes and levy limits resulting from the value of new construction less improvements removed in each tax TID. The substitute amendment also specifies information that must be contained in this analysis.

Environmental Remediation TID Provisions Signed into Law

On Friday, the Governor also signed SB 518 into law as Act 149. The League supported this legislation as it modifies the definition of environmental pollution to include contaminants inside of a structure as eligible environmental remediation TID costs.

Prior to Act 149, Wisconsin communities could use an ERTID to fund environmental remediation projects to clean-up contaminated sites including capital costs, financing, and professional services costs associated with the investigation and removal of pollution from the soil, air, and water in the TID.

Unfortunately, prior to Act 149, the law did not reflect the needs of many communities to address environmental pollution within existing structures. More specifically, ERTIDs could not be used to raze or redevelop existing structures contaminated with hazardous materials, such as asbestos, lead, and other heavy metals, creating often insurmountable barriers to the redevelopment of older properties due to the increased challenges and costs of environmental remediation. As a result, these sites can remain vacant for decades, contributing to blight and diminished property values in communities across the state.

The enactment of SB 518 is a welcome economic redevelopment tool for communities in Wisconsin and the League thanks Senator Cowles (R-Green Bay) and Representative Armstrong (R-Rice Lake) for authoring this important legislation.