On a rainy night last week, before a crowd of about 50, Columbia City Council gave initial approval to two special tax districts. The second and final vote on the ordinances, scheduled for Feb. 17, is expected to pass 4-3, with council members Kirkman Finlay, Belinda Gergel and Daniel Rickenmann opposed.

But with the city elections looming in April, the tax increment financing (TIF) projects might depend on the next mayor and new council members. Even after the TIFs are approved, any actual projects or bonds to be issued will also need council approval. And the makeup of council is changing.

Supporters say a tax-increment financing district could help spur development in the North Main area. Detractors say the city can’t afford it. Photo by Graeme Fouste

TIFs are used to fund development in blighted areas: The city borrows against future property tax revenues in order to fund current projects in a designated TIF district. New tax revenues in the area for the next 25 years are then used to pay off the debt, rather than going into the general funds of the city and other local governments that participate in the plans. When TIFs work, supporters say, they spur development, raising property values and improving quality of life, as in Columbia’s Vista.

One proposed TIF would cover the University of South Carolina’s Innovista campus, using $150 million in public funds; the other would cover a large area encompassing much of North Columbia and parts of downtown, using about $40 million in public money.
Supporters on council stress that the TIFs are just plans, not a commitment to incur debt.
“If we approve the plan today, it’s easy two years from now to say ‘No.’ All you have to do is nothing,” says Mayor Bob Coble.

And Tameika Isaac Devine has repeatedly emphasized that council need not start issuing bonds and building infrastructure right away.

Every single person who spoke at the Feb. 4 public hearing was in favor of the two districts, with the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce and other business groups as well as North Columbia neighborhood leaders well represented.

But ask the candidates for mayor and city council, and the answers are different.

Many of the District 4 council candidates oppose the TIFs. A campaign press release from Kevin Fisher, for example, makes it explicit:

“[T]he TIF districts received the bare minimum of four votes on Council,” Fisher writes. “We can undo this and begin to implement fiscally responsible city government with a single vote. I will be that fourth vote for fiscal responsibility.”

And all the mayoral candidates have expressed concerns with the TIFs. Aaron Johnson has dubbed them a “boondoggle.” Steve Morrison has said the TIFs are potentially risky uses of public money. Steve Benjamin is less emphatic, but has expressed concerns that Richland County and the Richland One School District have declined to participate in the TIFs.

And Kirkman Finlay maintains that the TIFs could actually lose the city money.

“I struggle with the math, as I have from the beginning,” Kirkman Finlay said before voting against the proposals.

If Council approves the TIFs but issues no bonds in the next 10 years, the TIFs will expire. Ten years is a long time from now. But the fate of the two development districts over the next several years rests with the outcome of the April 6 elections.  

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