A. A community improvement district (CID) is the most powerful public-private partnership today and has been used successfully around the country to revitalize center cities. It is an effective tool for financing improvements that directly enhance property values by allowing property owners to determine how funds are spent in their area. CID funds can augment existing services such as public safety and they can also be used to leverage additional public and private funds. Conservatively, CID funds can be used to leverage such funds at a ratio of 4 to 1.

A. A CID is a geographically defined district in which commercial property owners vote to impose a self-tax. To enact a CID, a simple majority of affected property owners holding at least 75% of the assessed property value of the area must vote affirmatively. Funds are then collected by the taxing authority and given to a board of directors elected by the property owners.

A. The Georgia Constitution specifies that funds collected through a CID may be used for seven types of applications:

1. Water
2. Public transportation
3. Street and road construction and maintenance
4. Parks and recreational areas and facilities
5. Storm water and sewage
6. Parking, terminal and dock facilities
7. Other

A. The participating property owners define the purpose of the CID and elect a board of directors to represent their interests. The board is ultimately responsible for determining funding and managing the process and for identifying and retaining staffing resources necessary to conduct day-to-day operations.

Midtown is ready for a community improvement district (CID). Community leaders took the initiative three years ago with a community-wide visioning process, and the result was Blueprint Midtown, a comprehensive plan charting the course for Midtown’s economic growth and vitality. Today, the Midtown Alliance is charged with implementing this long-range plan.

After reviewing a number of tools for financing local economic development, the Midtown Alliance is recommending a CID and proposes that the funding it generates be used for improvements in four areas: public safety, public transportation, roads and streetscapes.

The Midtown Alliance further recommends that the Midtown CID millage rate be set at 5 mils. In the first year, this millage rate will yield approximately $3.5 million from Midtown’s existing commercial properties. That figure will rise as construction is completed on the 5 million square feet of office space proposed or under construction today.

The Midtown Alliance Public Safety Task Force has undertaken a careful analysis of the types of crimes that occur in Midtown and found that prostitution, drug traffic, vandalism and car thefts and break-ins are our most immediate challenges. The task force has reviewed several proposals to address these problems and is currently considering a program that employs fully equipped off-duty police officers who have the power of arrest. The cost is estimated at $1.2 million annually.

The remainder of the budget would be allocated for traffic improvements, transit alternatives and streetscape enhancements. At this juncture, $80 million worth of necessary infrastructure improvements have already been identified. Funds collected via the CID would be used to leverage other funds to pay for these essentials. Approximately $150,000 would be allocated annually for the operation of a transportation management association (TMA). The TMA would develop and promote such transit alternatives as a trolley service and ridesharing programs. Other important additions to the streets of Midtown would include sidewalks, pedestrian lighting, parks and plazas and buried power lines.

All of the work necessary to implement these initiatives has already been completed. The Midtown Alliance is ready to go as soon as the funding is in place. Our goal is to have all consent forms collected before year-end and to have a fully functioning CID in 2000.