In 1998, Collin County entered into a Tax Increment
Financing District (TIF) with the city of Frisco and Frisco ISD. The 1998 TIF surrounded Stonebriar
Mall. Under this plan, beginning at 50
percent and topping out at 80 percent, county revenues raised from within this
designated area would be put back into the area for infrastructure
improvements. Collin County’s
reimbursements are $14 million over twenty years. Because of this agreement the mall and the surrounding roads were
constructed very quickly.
Last month, the commissioners’ court voted to extend the TIF
to include the new soccer complex and stadium which will be located at the
Northeast corner of FM 720 and the Dallas North Tollway. With the extended TIF, county reimbursements
are an additional $6 million per year for a total of $20 million overall. Again, this is revenue raised from the TIF
area itself and is not tax revenue from the general fund.
Even with redistribution of 50 – 80 percent of the revenue
from within the TIF back into the area, the county’s overall tax revenue will
increase more than by just doing nothing and watching more rooftops develop and
residential taxpayers carrying more of the tax burden. Also, the secondary development around the
TIF (hotels, etc) will provide more revenue for the county than what we would
be receiving had the district not been created. Conservative projections show that from the surrounding
development plus the increased development inside the TIF area, Collin County
will receive almost $41 million in tax revenue within thirteen years of the
TIF’s ending. Long term I know, but
still a better return than rooftops and strip malls.
It should also be pointed out that the County’s portion of
the TIF will not go to the stadium but to infrastructure improvements and the
addition of 17 new soccer fields for kids in Collin County. Since this area is close to the Tollway we
would have been obligated to provide infrastructure improvements through bond
programs. This agreement frees up bond
money which now can be utilized in other areas of the county.
Also, and probably most important, this area will provide a
venue for regional and national tournaments.
A national tournament can mean that thousands of hotel rooms will be
used by teams, their fans and their families.
Overall the economic effect of these tournaments consisting of the
revenue they will generate and the visitors they will bring into Collin County
will be an economic engine that will affect us all.
Some have asked why Frisco was able to do this and McKinney
was not? Overall, these were two very
different scenarios. First of all,
McKinney did not have a TIF to work with.
Any entity participation in the McKinney project would have amounted to
a subsidy. Why did McKinney not approve
a TIF? In 1999, the state ruled that
school districts could no longer participate in TIFs. Without the participation of school districts in TIFs, revenue
for a planned project will most likely be insignificant. Why did the state exclude school districts
from participating in TIFs? I do not
know. This particular TIF is saving the
Frisco ISD over $5 million due to the fact that they are reinvesting $15
million into the TIF and as a result are not having to spend $20 million in
pre-approved bonds for a new stadium.
You would think that with Robin Hood the state would allow school
districts to think more outside the box for funding revenues.
Overall, this complex will put Collin County on the map as
far as soccer tournaments are concerned.
It is a family oriented economic development tool that will provide
synergy to the surrounding cities to link up to the area with soccer plans of
their own, increase tourism within the county and, most of all, provide quality
recreation for our children.
(County Commissioner Joe Jaynes’ email is
jjaynes@co.collin.tx.us.)
