New board holds first meeting today

The first meeting of the McMinnville Downtown Revenue Finance Corporation will be held today at 5 p.m. at the Chamber of Commerce.

MDRFC was established to administer the Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) program, an incentive program that aims to encourage commercial real estate development in and around downtown McMinnville.

There are seven board directors assigned by county and city elected officials. County appointed members include Sandra Haynes, Mike Weatherspoon and Ray Talbert. City appointed members include Michael Chrisawn, Charles Marsh and Terrie Kirby. Jointly appointed by the county and city was Ed Porter.

The first meeting will include introducing the board?s directors, training, adopting bylaws, electing officers and setting administration/operations, including dates and times that the board will meet each month.

Once all the formalities are concluded, applications will be accepted sometime in February from businesses interested in the program. Applicants must pass all requirements which include passing a design review process and obtaining a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Zoning Commission.

Other requirements include:

? Only improvements greater than 60 percent of the current value.

? Owners of the property must be the ones applying for the program.

? Title of the property must be transferred to the MDRFC program during the years the property is in the program.

Those accepted by the board will have their real estate taxes ?frozen? for the designated number of years, five to 10 years depending on the improvements being done. Once the program has been completed, the property is returned to the tax rolls at its then current value.

?I think it is a good financial incentive,? said Main Street McMinnville director Chris Wilson. ?Investing 60 percent of the market value is a significant investment for property owners to make but I think it?s a good trade off.?

This meeting, and all future meetings, will be open to the public.