(Red Oak) The Red Oak City Council addressed the United Farmer’s Cooperative’s Urban Renewal project at Monday’s City Council meeting.
Red Oak City Administrator Brad Wright says a public hearing preceded the City Council’s approval of the urban renewal plan and project. “The United Farmer’s Coop is putting in an extensive grain storage facility,” said Wright. “This is about an $8 million project, and they approached the City Council months ago and asked if the city would partner with them with tax rebates to offset some of the costs.”
Wright says the council agreed to provide the division of taxes levied on the property in terms of tax increment financing. “They still pay their taxes and get a portion of them back over a five-year period using the sliding industrial scale, meaning the taxes are rebated on only the added value,” said Wright. “They receive 75-percent off their taxes the first year, and it goes down 15-percent over the next four years.”
The Red Oak City Council set a public hearing at the next council meeting on August 2 to approve the development agreement with United Farmer’s Cooperative, including the annual appropriation of tax increment financing.
