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Consideration of creating Tax Increment District No. 17, approving its project plan and establishing its boundaries
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Submitted by:
John Ruggini, and Jon Cameron (Ehlers)
Department:
Finance Department
A. Issue
The Project Plan for the Creation of TID #17 was approved by the Community Development
Authority on March 16th, 2026, following a public hearing on the same date and is now before
you for consideration.
B. Background/Options
Municipalities have the authority in Wisconsin to create Tax Increment Districts to facilitate economic development that would not have otherwise occurred but for the municipal support. This support can be in the form of public infrastructure (roads, sewers, water mains, etc), site remediation (demolition, environmental clean-up, land acquisition, etc) or a developer grant to address extra-ordinary costs. In Wauwatosa, the "but for" test is answered by proving two questions as outlined in our Economic Development Investment policy (attached):
1. What expenses are the developer occurring that are extra-ordinary compared to a development on a "green field" with room for surface parking and no site remediation?
2. Do these extra-ordinary costs result in a below-market return on investment that would prevent the developer from raising sufficient equity and/or securing loans to proceed with the project.
We typically engage a third-party financial consultant to assist with this analysis (memo attached).
This financial assistance is made possible by the "tax increment" that is generated by the new development within the geographic boundaries of the District. "Tax Increment" is new property value and the corresponding taxes generated by any development that occurs after the District is created and that exceeds the value and taxes that are already (and continue) to fund the overlapping taxing jurisdictions (City, School District, County, Technical College, Sewerage District). This is depicted below. The Department...
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