At the Oct. 15 meeting of the Ellsworth City Council, approval was given to Resolution 19-1015A, establishing a public hearing for the expansion of the current Tax Increment Finance (TIF) district boundary.

The public hearing will be at 5:15 p.m. Monday, Nov. 25, at city hall.

Patrick Hoffman, city attorney, said notice must be given to all the owners of the land that would go in the TIF district, and also USD 327 and the Ellsworth County commissioners.

He said the TIF is property taxbased, adding the land added to the original TIF in 2011 was raw land with no buildings and a low property tax.

“We put them in the TIF and when they got built on, that made the property taxes much higher,” he said.

Hoffman said the property taxes go to pay off bonds, and the bond money was used to build infrastructure to make it happen.

“So the idea of a TIF is you create infrastructure to increase development, which then pays for the infrastructure you created,” he said. “And in the long run, you’ve got more jobs, you’ve got more development, and you’ve got a higher tax base.”

City administrator Scott Moore said the expansion will include areas throughout the city with the highest possibility of being developed in the near future. He said the TIF could be utilized to help leverage resources secured through state and federal programs and any additional public assistance to expand the city’s infrastructure once project plans have been submitted for review and consideration by the council.

“Establishing additional TIF eligible areas throughout the city would help Ellsworth County Economic Development work with developers to submit project plans for redevelopment and city council consideration,” he said.

The original TIF doesn’t expire until 2031.

The proposed properties are:

• Minnick’s 2nd Addition, Acres 13.1, All Blocks 5-8, All Block 10, West ½ Block 11 & Adjacent Vacant Streets

• Hospital Addition, Acres 8.1, Beginning 640’ north & 193.4’ west of Southwest corner Legon Addition, thence west 190.5’, north 171.5’, northwest 100’, west 95’, south 243’, west 362.8’, north 545.9’, east 714.6’, south 548’ to point of beginning Section 16 Township 15 Range 08W

• Aylward III Addition Lots 1-9, Section 16 Township 15 Range 08W

• Aylward III Addition, Acres 0.9, north 180’ of Lot B;

• Aylward III Addition Acres 1.6, beginning northwest corner of Lots C, thence east 212’, south 482.3’, northwest 369.24’, north 180’ to point of beginning

• Aylward III Addition Lots D, Acres 2.9, Section 16 Township 15 Range 08W

• Aylward II Addition Lots 4, Section 16 Township 15 Range 08W

• Aylward II Addition Lots 5, Acres 1.4, Section 16 Township 15 Range 08W

• Aylward II Addition Lots 6, Acres 1.2, Section 16 Township 15 Range 08W

• Hospital Addition, Acres 1.7, Beginning southwest corner Legion Addition, thence west 133.4’, north 580’ to point of beginning Section 16 Township 15 Range 08W

• Legion Addition, Acres 3.0, Lot Block Information, all less right-of-way Section 16 Township 15 Range 08W

• Blake’s Addition, All of Block 27 & Vacated Alley

• Blake’s Addition, Block 28, beginning Northwest Corner Lot 8-Block 28, Thence east 25’, southeast 180’, southwest 250’, west 40.2’ to point of beginning

• Section 29, Township 15, Range 08W, Acres 28, beginning 943.7’ west of southeast corner Southwest ¼, thence west 300.34’, north 1,182.69’, east 1,286.17’, south 723.78’, west 120.33’ to Highway Right-of-Way, Southwest 418.34’, southwest 499.13’, southwest 55.95’ to point of beginning less rightof-way

• Canren Addition Lots 32-65

Which real estate is generally described as being located in areas of the City:

An area bounded on the east by Evans Street, on the north by 8th Street, on the west by Highway 156 on the south by 2nd Street;

• Blake’s Addition, beginning 30’North of Northeast Corner Block 20, Thence West 150’, Northeasterly 419’, Northeasterly 60’, South 440’ to point of beginning less right-of-way

• Blake’s Addition, beginning 30’North of Northeast Corner Lot 3-Block 20, Thence West 257’, Northeasterly 191’, East 150’, South 160’ to point of beginning less right-of-way.

• Blake’s Addition, Acres 5.8, beginning Southeast Corner Block 21, Thence West 671’, Northeasterly 702’, East 257’, South 570’ to point of beginning less right-of-way.

In other business:

• Consensus approval was given to Dave Cox to conduct the Fifth Annual Disc Golf Tournament Oct. 19 in Krisek Park.

• Consideration of a land lease agreement with USD 327 was tabled until a future meeting.

Moore said USD 327 requested the agreement to utilize a portion of Lot 10, Block 3 of the Armory and Ballfields Addition to construct a storage shed for baseball and softball equipment.

He said in August, the city received funding from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation to renovate the ballfield concession stand. USD 327 has utilized a portion of the stand to store its equipment, but has outgrown the space.

“Entering into a land lease agreement with USD 327 would allow them to work with the Recreation Department to construct a 12’ by 20’ storage shed that would be built between the baseball and softball fields,” Moore said.

He noted funding to construct the storage shed would be paid for by USD

327.

Moore, Hoffman and rec director Ronny Tenbrink will meet with USD 327 officials to prepare the land lease agreement. It will be reviewed and discussed at a future meeting of the city council.

• Moore and the council discussed Moore working with Kirkham Michael to complete the 2021 Kansas Department of Transportation Alternative Program Sidewalk application.

Moore reminded the council that in February, Ellsworth was informed a workforce housing development was approved for Ellsworth County, including 12 three-bedroom/two bath homes for Ellsworth. He said in planning for this type of project, the city council should consider establishing a multi-use pathway plan that connects the existing neighborhoods with sidewalks designated for pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

Moore said community trail and pathways were identified as a priority for Ellsworth during the 2019 Strategic Doing process. He said the Dane G. Hansen Foundation views community application submittals that are a part of their Strategic Doing process.

“If the city was to apply for Hansen Foundation funds, the application would receive favorable consideration, which could cover the city’s 20 percent of the total project cost,” he said.“Those costs would include professional engineering services.”

Moore focused on the Canren Addition, the young families that will live there, and how they would safely walk or bike from there to downtown Ellsworth.

Moore said the application is due Nov. 1. It will be another 60-90 days before selections are made.

“If we get picked, we don’t have to do it,” Mayor Al Stefek said. “We can make a decision after that point.”

• The council authorized Moore to work with Gilmore Bell and Piper Jaffery in developing financial analysis to issue temp notes in an amount not to exceed $2.9 million.

Moore said the temp notes will allow the city to not exhaust all of its funds while waiting to be reimbursed for projects already in the works, and to identify and prioritize funding for future projects under consideration. These include work on the Eight Street/K-156 Highway intersection, the K-140 and K-156 Highway turning lane addition, the storm detention two-basin project, airport project improvements and engineering, drainage improvements, park and recreation development improvements, the city hall boiler and street and highway improvements.

Also discussed was milling down the build up of overlay on either Prospect or Grand.

“We can be ready for next spring to do one street,” Moore said.

• The council accepted a $10,000 grant from the Smoky Hill Charitable Foundation to secure materials from Maico Industries to install an 18’ by 24’ shelter for the Preisker Park Splash Pad.

The next meeting of the Ellsworth City Council is at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 28, at city hall.

"If we get picked, we don’t have to do it. We can make a decision after that point."
Al Stefek
Ellsworth mayor