Bill passage caps struggle to give neighborhoods more control
Sen. Walter Michel could barely contain his excitement.
“It’s on its way to the governor. We got it done,” he said.
Michel echoed many Northsiders’ sentiments recently, who were celebrating the passage of HB 1612, a bill that allows neighborhoods to form community improvement districts (CIDs).
Northsiders have fought for the measure for years, and finally saw legislation allowing the special taxing districts pass both chambers last week.
“It was an arduous task, but we got something that all of the associations seem to be happy with,” Michel said.
The bill was passed overwhelmingly by the House and Senate and was on its way to Gov. Phil Bryant last week. If the governor signs, 1612 would become law on July 1. Bryant previously told the Sun he supported it.
The bill allows neighborhoods to form the districts, which would enable them to levy a temporary tax on homeowners within the district and then use the funds to make public improvements.
District 74 Rep. Mark Baker authored the measure, which was slightly different than the measure introduced by Michel, District 29 Sen. David Blount and other members of the Jackson Senate delegation at the start of the session.
The senator believes Baker’s changes likely pushed the measure over the finish line.
Under provisions, neighborhoods would have to petition cities to form the districts. Before a neighborhood could be considered, 60 percent of property owners in the affected area would have to sign on. From there, leaders would have to draw up a plan on how to use the money and determine a millage rate needed to fund the plan. From there, the proposal would be taken back to homeowners, who again would have to vote to approve the district. For the CID to pass, 60 percent of home and property owners would have to sign on.
“It’s got a double referendum. There has to be a mandate from an association to get it done,” he said.
The tax would be in place long enough to fund the improvements, and neighborhoods hoping for an extension would again have to go through the initial petitioning process.
CIDs would be limited to neighborhoods with established homeowner associations, and tax levies would be limited to six mills.
For a home valued at $200,000, the maximum tax would be $120 a year, Michel said.
Michel’s bill did not require homeowners to draw up a plan, nor did it require two votes by residents for approval.
Dana Robertson, executive director of the Greater Eastover Foundation, said her foundation would be meeting between now and July to discuss the particulars of forming a district, and what it could mean for the neighborhood.
“There are a lot of things we could use the CID to do – some things we’re already doing as a foundation, some things we’d like to afford to do,” she said. “It’s so early on, we haven’t had a chance to firm up any ideas.”
Eastover has 415 homes on the east side of Ridgewood Road.
Among projects, the neighborhood has applied to install several public access gates and is making enhancements to the Lake Circle Bridge near Douglas Drive. Leaders there have also been working with the city to push through the second phase of the Eastover Drive water main replacement project, including offering to do beautification once the work is complete.
All of those efforts could have been funded by CID dollars.
She thanked lawmakers and the governor for backing the measure, and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves for allowing it to go to the floor for a vote. Previous efforts to approve CID legislation had been blocked by Reeves, who presides over the Senate.
Breck Hines, president of the Country Club of Jackson Homeowners Association, was also happy the measure passed.
“There are certainly ways my neighborhood, if members wanted to, could put it to good use,” he said.
Hines said CIDs could be especially beneficial to Jackson’s older neighborhoods, which are trying to maintain property values and compete with newer subdivisions going up Madison, Ridgeland and other suburbs.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2017, nearly 63 percent of the 75,097 homes in Jackson were built between 1950 and 1979. By comparison, just 11.8 percent of homes in the city of Madison and 21.7 percent of homes in Ridgeland were built during those years.
“Neighborhoods in Jackson have been around for a long, long time. It comes with cool architecture and social diversity, but they need to be able to reinvest in their areas if they want property values to increase,” Hines said. “This bill gives neighborhoods the ability to do that.”
Belhaven Improvement Association President Reed Hogan was eagerly awaiting the governor to sign the bill.
He hopes to coordinate efforts with other neighborhoods to “optimize our potential of creating safer, more beautiful, more enjoyable neighborhoods and improving the quality of life for all our residents.”
Robertson, Hines and Hogan all support the additional voting requirements and master plan required in the bill, saying having more transparency could help sway residents who otherwise might not be in favor of the CIDs.
Northsider Leland Speed, an early supporter of the measure, said educating residents about the benefits of CIDs will be key to their success.
He points to efforts to form the downtown Business Improvement District (BID) years ago, saying that the first attempt failed because property owners didn’t understand the benefits of having the district.
BIDs work much like CIDs, but are specifically for commercial and mixed-use areas, rather than residential. Like in CIDs, property taxes in the area go to fund public projects and provide services that would otherwise not be available.
Property owners eventually did approve the Downtown Jackson BID, and have reaped the rewards. Tax dollars there are used to pay for security and maintenance, beautification, marketing and event assistance and business recruiting.
In 2017, property owners in the 60-block area strongly signaled their support for the district, voting 97 percent to extend the tax. “You never see 97 percent of people vote for anything,” Speed said.
The former executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority hopes to organize meetings to discuss CIDs, as well as bring in leaders from other cities where CIDs already exist.
Said Speed: “This gives us time to do some thinking, and get people anticipating the good things that are going to happen.”
