Grace Kirchner, Leader Correspondent
The City of Clintonville and Aster Retirement Community have settled a disagreement over past Tax Incremental Financing district payments.
According to the agreement, Aster will pay the city about $314,000 over the next three years as well as payments in the future in lieu of taxes.
Angelus Retirement Community, an assisted living facility, was part of a TIF district when it was sold in 2015 to MHDC Clintonville, LLC, parent company of Aster Retirement Community.
City Administrator Chuck Kell said the development agreement required Angelus to maintain tax payments to the city until the debt for the TIF borrowing was eliminated and precluded Angelus from selling the property to a tax-exempt entity without city approval.
The 2002 agreement with Angelus included the following clause: “The developer shall not assign this agreement nor sell the development to any entity which by virtue of each ownership would render the development exempt from the property taxes unless and until such assignee or purchaser enters into a written agreement with the city pursuant to which such entity agrees to make annual payments to the city in an annual amount equal to the general property taxes that would have been paid in that year by the development had it been included in the tax rolls.”
Aster’s attorney noted that the nonprofit company had notified the city in 2014 of its plans to purchase the Angelus facility, but city officials at the time failed to follow through. Negotiations between Aster and former City Attorney April Dunlavy over the disputed funds stalled over the next several months.
City Attorney Keith Steckbauer, whom the city hired in April to replace Dunlavy, negotiated the agreement with Aster, which was finalized and approved by the Common Council on Sept. 13.
“I think we’ve accomplished a lot here,” Kell said. “It will basically make us whole on the TIF debt that we had with TID 5 involving the Angelus project. It will go a long, long way toward providing payment every year in the future after that TIF debt is paid. That will be equal to what the taxes would have been on the project for the city had it not been taken off the tax rolls. I think in both cases this is a win-win for the city financially.”