Lebanon Redevelopment Commission

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The Lebanon Business Park (LBP) is a Duke Realty project that opened for business in 1994 within a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District overseen by the Lebanon Redevelopment Commission (RDC). The Lebanon RDC is governed by an appointed board that consists of three members selected by the Lebanon Mayor and two members selected by the Lebanon City Council. The current Lebanon RDC President is Jim Lewis, who is a Greater Lebanon Community Vision Committee "Stakeholder." Other Lebanon RDC members are Jack Bland, David Koehler, Jim Morog, and Robert Taylor.

Under the leadership of former Mayor Jim Acton, any excess TIF revenue not needed to make TIF bond payments was distributed to the Lebanon Community School Corporation and other local government units.

The taxable assessed value of the LBP businesses outside the TIF District are used to benefit taxpayers because the property tax rates for those property tax line items with a variable rate are lower than they would have otherwise been. For those property tax line items that have a set rate per $100 of assessed value, taxpayers benefit because the increased property tax revenue from the taxable assessed value of the LBP businesses outside the TIF District have a domino effect that made the consideration of other tax increases unnecessary.

The May 2008 Study of Select Economic and Other Impacts of the Lebanon Business Park reported that “because of the excess revenue available after the payment of the bonds, the LBP has been generating additional funding for other government uses and schools since 1999. In 2007 alone, the LBP provided well over $1,000,000 in additional school funding, and approximately $750,000 in funding for other government obligations.”

Things changed dramatically in a Taxpayer UNfriendly way after Mayor Acton's tenure. Excess TIF revenue not needed to make TIF bond payments is NO LONGER distributed to our Lebanon Community School Corporation, Boone County, Center Township, Lebanon Public Library, and City of Lebanon local government units. Indiana Code 36-7-25-3(a) allows the Lebanon RDC to spend any excess revenue not needed for the bond payments however it wishes throughout the city. A lot of recent excess TIF revenue expenditures by the Lebanon RDC have been for build-it-and-they-will-come capital projects intended to help stimulate speculative development within Lebanon’s failed I-65 corridor annexation. The 2008-2011 excess TIF revenue expenditures are detailed next.

2008 Lebanon Redevelopment Commission Expenditures
Lebanon Fire Department ladder truck
Three Lebanon Police Department police cars
Lebanon Street Department bucket truck

2009 Lebanon Redevelopment Commission Expenditures
$211,200.00 for ten new police vehicles
$20,775.42 for “various legal and accounting services”

2010 Lebanon Redevelopment Commission Expenditures
$205,000.00 to purchase land at 975 Lasley Drive for a new fire station
$2,429,579.67 for a new fire station at 975 Lasley Drive
$800,776.65 for a rail spur within the Lebanon Business Park
$13,932.50 for SR 39 bridge “engineering services”
$125,761.10 for “professional services”

2011 Lebanon Redevelopment Commission Expenditures
$75,000.00 for three new police vehicles
$200,000.00 for a Quality Inn mortgage foreclosure judgment
$152,168.73 for Quality Inn property taxes
$500,000.00 for a Lebanon High School “conference center”
$1,050,000.00 for a SR 39 bridge decorative panel
$112,374.08 for SR 39 bridge “engineering services”
$43,686.16 for “various legal and accounting services”
$30,000.00 for a Lebanon Metronet “downtown facade grant”

The taxable assessed value from new business development within the TIF District generates property tax revenue that is deposited in three TIF District funds. On December 31, 2009, the total balance of $6,238,444.54 in these three funds was distributed as follows: (1) the Enterprise Boulevard Construction Fund had a $767,344.41 balance; (2) the Enterprise Boulevard TIF Allocation Fund had a $5,053,485.11 balance; (3) the Enterprise Boulevard Reserve Fund had a $417,615.02 balance. The total balance in the three TIF District funds fell to $2,486,591.14 on December 31, 2011, and was distributed as follows: (1) the Enterprise Boulevard Construction Fund had a zero balance; (2) the Enterprise Boulevard TIF Allocation Fund had a $2,486,591.14 balance; (3) the Enterprise Boulevard Reserve Fund had a zero balance.

A portion of the property tax revenue generated within the TIF District must be used to make payments on the following four outstanding bonds that have been issued by the Lebanon RDC: (1) Series 2010 Economic Development Tax Increment Revenue Bonds (DA Lubricant Project where the DA Lubricant Economic Development Allocation Area is the primary source of repayment); (2) Series 2011 Economic Development Revenue Bonds (Skjodt-Barrett Project where the Lebanon Business Park Building #11 Allocation Area is the primary source of repayment); (3) Series 2011 Taxable Economic Development Revenue Bonds (Lebanon FiberNet Project where the Lebanon FiberNet, Lebanon Downtown, and Lebanon Business Park Allocation Areas are the primary sources of repayment); (4) Economic Development Lease Rental Bonds of 2011 (new fire station at Lasley Drive near I-65 where the Lebanon Business Park Development Area is the primary source of repayment and property tax outside the TIF District is the secondary source). 

Listed in the table below are the 2012-2021 estimated revenues and expenditures for the Lebanon RDC.

As long as the LBP does not go into sudden decline (and the TIF District is not terminated), Lebanon’s TIF District will continue to generate annual excess revenue greater than $715,000 every year for the foreseeable future. It will be “taxpayer abuse” if Mayor Huck Lewis continues to dedicate most of the Lebanon RDC excess TIF revenue to unneeded build-it-and-they-will-come projects intended to benefit developers. Mayor Lewis should use the excess TIF revenue like former Mayor Acton to benefit taxpayers.

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This page was last updated on 03/11/13 .