from The Wilson Post::Nov. 7, 2008
CoBudget committee approves Bible Park USA impact statement
By CONNIE ESH
The Wilson County Budget Committee agreed Thursday night to approve the
Economic Impact Statement presented by Bible Park USA, which would
allow the developer to set up Tax Increment Funding through the
Industrial Development Board.
This is the plan which allows the developer to use the real estate
taxes generated by the park to pay off bonds to be used to help fund
the project.
They also recommended to the county commission board a proposal for the
county to apply for a Tourism Development Zone (TDZ) for the park
property, and approved the intergovernmental agreement that the city of
Lebanon approved earlier in the evening.
The TDZ would allow the developer to add a privilege tax to all
purchases in the park and use that revenue to sell more bonds. The
budget committee also voted to limit the total value of the bonds to
$60 million as did the Lebanon City Council.
G.C. Hixon, chair of the Joint Economic and Community Development
Board, presented a request to the committee to be considered and voted
on at a later date.
The request would offer a standard payment in lieu of tax on personal
property to Core Tech Industries.
If passed the program which has been offered to other industries to
encourage them to locate in the county, would save Core Tech about
$287,000 over a seven year period.
The program has no impact on real estate tax paid by the company, which
is estimated to be $534,600 for the county tax and $73,700 for the City
of Lebanon.
The committee also approved the transfer of $150,000 generated by the
new litigation tax from the general fund to the capital projects fund
to pay for the architect’s fees to start the renovation of
the old jail.
The committee authorized $2,500 to pay for an independent appraisal of
the old Mt Juliet Elementary School property.
The resolution said that when the appraisal is complete the property is
to be placed for sale for a price not less than the appraised value.