A key priority of the City of East Moline is to continually foster economic growth and development in the community. The City is therefore considering the possibilities of creating a Business Development and Redevelopment District, often referred to as a Business Development District (BDD), in key areas of the City.  

The BDD is a special financing program created by a municipality to enable the City to attract development on properties within a designated BDD Area.  Development activity will increase local services and amenities, increase employment opportunities, and increase sales and property tax revenues to the municipality and other taxing bodies. 

Incentives may also go to qualifying existing business owners or operators to help with property and building improvements through a number of ways, such as grants or loans (see graphic below).  Some form of a written redevelopment agreement between a business and the City is often required to provide such funding.

The way in which such incentives can be made available in a BDD is through the enactment of an additional sales tax and hotel tax, up to 1.0%.  At present, the City of East Moline falls behind its neighbors of Moline and Rock Island in Base Sales Tax Rates (see below graphic).  The addition of a BDD in East Moline at a .75% sales tax rate would create funds to support public and private projects and establish greater sales tax equality between East Moline, Moline, & Rock Island.

USES OF FUNDS

As stated, a BDD is a special financing program that can be used by both public and private entities.  Legal uses of funds derived from the BDD sales tax include the following: 

For assisting Businesses with:

• Vertical construction costs of new private buildings; 
• Rehabilitation, repair, & renovations of existing structures; 
• Property acquisition; 
• Site preparation and demolition; 
• Engineering, architectural, legal & other professional costs;
• Marketing;
• Relocation costs; and
• Reimbursement of financing costs. 

For assisting the City with:

• Infrastructure (new/repaired roads, sidewalks, and water/sewer lines, etc); 
• Capital costs / other costs incurred by other taxing bodies; and 
• Paying annual bond payments issued for capital improvements. 

CONCLUSION

To aggressively foster economic growth; help existing businesses; fix aging infrastructure; address deteriorating neighborhoods; and spur various types of residential development within the community, the City needs to utilize all if its economic development programs effectively, particularly in key areas of the city that include the:

• Avenue of the Cities;
• Downtown;
• Industrial Park;
• Illinois Route 5/Quad City Downs area;
• I80/I88 Corridor; and
• Various parcels identified for potential new residential growth.

By implementing a BDD and pairing it with other development tools such as the City’s tax increment financing (TIF) districts; Enterprise Zone; energy efficiency financing; or low interest loan funds, the City of East Moline can create a very powerful set of tools to help businesses expand, start-up and thrive here in East Moline.