Public can get TIF info at board meeting

For months, the idea of using a special funding mechanism known as tax-increment financing, or TIF, for a housing development around Cape Girardeau's new Dalhousie Golf Club has been the subject of considerable research and discussion. Almost every group of coffee drinkers in town has gone over this idea in detail.

Now the coffee drinkers and anyone else interested in the TIF plan have an opportunity to hear first-hand what it's all about.

Prestwick Plantation officials, developers of the 900-acre subdivision, will make a formal presentation to the Cape Girardeau School Board Monday night. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the district's central offices, which used to be the vo-tech school, at 301 Clark St.

District officials and the developers have had several meetings in an effort to work out a deal acceptable to both. The district wants to make sure a TIF wouldn't decrease the district's tax revenue over the proposed 23-year life of the TIF. And considering that such a large development would add several hundred students to the district, school officials also want the developers to pay for construction of a new elementary school when the need arises.

At Monday's meeting, independent banking consultants also will present information about the TIF.

This will be the first opportunity for the public to get an up-close look at the TIF concept and the district's concerns. This would be a good meeting to attend.