The LeFleur East Foundation is exploring the establishment of a community improvement district.
“We’re very much in the early stages of this,” said Clay Hays, chair of the LeFleur East Foundation.
The LeFleur East Foundation established a business improvement district in 2020 and is now studying the creation of a community improvement district similar to the one Belhaven and Belhaven Heights residents voted in favor of in 2020, he said. Residents within the Greater Belhaven Community Improvement District pay an additional assessment on top of their property taxes and those funds go to improvements in the neighborhood.
More than likely several smaller community improvement districts would need to be established from the LeFleur East area because it takes in 22 neighborhoods, Hays said, naming off the top of his head Eastover, Massena Heights, Loho, Meadowbrook Highlands and Sheffield.
Some neighborhoods such as Eastover are highly organized, while others do not have neighborhood associations, he said.
Dana F. Robertson, executive director of the Greater Eastover Neighborhood Foundation, believes LeFleur East would benefit from a community improvement district.
“I think Eastover residents would be open to the idea of an additional assessment if the benefit to the area, i.e., LeFleur East, was made clear in the strategic plan,” she said. “Eastover residents understand that the success of our neighborhood is greatly affected by the success of our larger, surrounding community. Security, safety and beautification are all great examples of the types of improvements that a CID could implement.”
Ashby Foote, who represents Ward One on the Jackson City Council, applauds the efforts of the LeFleur East Foundation.
“LeFleur East is doing everything it can to push the city forward,” he said. “It’s about improving the quality of life.”
Virgi Lindsay, who represents Ward Seven on the council, said it took two years to get a bill passed in the Legislature authorizing community improvement districts. “Since that time, the Greater Belhaven Neighborhood Foundation is the first one in the city to fully implement it,” she said.
Establishing a community improvement district is no quick feat but takes leadership plus lots of legwork and persistence.
The Greater Belhaven Neighborhood Foundation began collecting signatures of residents in favor of the district in October 2019 and continued the work even during the coronavirus pandemic. It gathered enough signatures for an election on April 5, 2022 during which 75.6 percent of voters approved the new district.
The election results were certified, then the city of Jackson prepared an order to create the district and that order was sent to the Hinds County Tax Assessor’s Office.
Beginning in 2023, all home and property owners in the Greater Belhaven Community Improvement District are assessed a special 6 mill assessment in addition to their annual property taxes. A mill is equal to $1 per every $1,000 of a property’s assessed taxable value, which is usually a small fraction of the home’s market value.
The beauty of a community improvement district is that funds return to the neighborhood the boundaries of the district cover and can be used for improvements that the city may not be able to afford, Lindsay said.
The Greater Belhaven Community Improvement District generates about $207,000 a year.
Used throughout the United States and other countries, community improvement districts help enhance urban and suburban areas by funding landscaping, parks, sidewalks, lighting, security enhancements, infrastructure and rehabilitation or the sale of derelict properties.
In Mississippi, legislation requires that a community improvement district plan and funds be managed by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit neighborhood association.
A district’s funds are collected with a property owner’s taxes yearly and held in a special fund for the district.
The Greater Belhaven Community Improvement District funds must be maintained separately from other Greater Belhaven Neighborhood Foundation funds, with strict accounting, audit and public disclosure guidelines.
