City Council amends policy around tax increment financing

The Albuquerque City Council on Monday approved a measure aimed at increasing transparency, providing clear outcomes and creating new plans for tax increment financing in metropolitan redevelopment areas.

The bill, sponsored by Councilor Renée Grout, passed on a 6-3 vote. Councilors Joaquín Baca, Tammy Fiebelkorn and Nichole Rogers voted against it.

Tax increment financing, or TIF, is an economic development tool used to subsidize redevelopment and community improvement projects. Funds generated in the area, typically from property tax and gross receipts tax revenue, cycle back to the specific district where the TIF was implemented.

The bill ultimately establishes communication protocols with stakeholders and constituents, data tracking on the progress of tax increment financing and requires more up-to-date MRA plans, according to a city news release.

“I am in favor of TIF financing. I think it’s a great tool for the MRA, but I do think there needs to be transparency with all these unrestricted funds,” Grout said.

Albuquerque has 22 metropolitan redevelopment areas, some with plans ranging from 30 to less than a year old.

The initial bill Grout introduced had a clause that would have rendered any MRA plan drawn up over five years ago ineligible. That would have included the East Gateway area — the only MRA in her district — along with 20 of the city’s 22 MRAs.

That was scrapped instead for a 10-year or newer requirement. Seven of the MRA plans are less than 10 years old, including East Gateway.

The bill also establishes a path for updating older plans, since those older than a decade are required to be updated within two years of a TIF request approval, said council spokesperson Vincent Higgins.

“You want TIFs to be in areas that are about to grow, and we see some opportunities for growth in the East Gateway, so it would be really advantageous to that area of town to have a TIF,” Terry Brunner, director of the Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency and Mayor Tim Keller’s chief of staff, told the Journal.

Bruner said the Keller administration’s economist predicts $150 million in fiscal growth over 20 years with a TIF in the East Gateway area. Brunner added that the cost of updating a plan is roughly $200,000, while creating a new one is around $250,000. The agency’s budget is $1.2 million.

Grout isn’t set on requesting a new plan for the East Gateway, saying in an interview that she’ll listen to constituents.

“If in the East Gateway, businesses want to do that I will work with them to bring in all of the stakeholders and I think it’s important that the community is involved,” Grout said. “I think that if we’re going to do a TIF in my district, we need to update it first because things have changed.”

The East Gateway MRA district, established in 2007, was updated with an MRA plan in 2016. The MRA boundary is 665 total acres and encompasses Central from Wyoming to Tramway and includes the intersection of Juan Tabo and Interstate 40.

Grout added that she wants increased transparency because a TIF will outlast nearly all current elected city leaders.

During the council’s last 2024 meeting, it passed legislation to establish the city’s first TIF in Downtown Albuquerque.