A countywide economic development effort providing incentives for those wishing to improve their properties moved closer to a reality as the Great Bend City Council met Monday night. Approved was an interlocal agreement with Barton County for the county-wide Neighborhood Revitalization Plan.

At the Aug. 16 meeting, the council reviewed and approved proposed changes to the new county-wide NRP. The 10-year plan would take effect Jan. 1, 2022.

It would replace the individual plans in multiple communities that are set to expire at the end of this year.

“The staff is comfortable with the changes,” City Administrator Kendal Francis said. In fact, “my staff is excited to have the county take this over.”

This standardizes eligibility criteria for all participants (the county and all incorporated cities in the county) and will be managed through the County Appraiser’s Office. It won’t require much change in what the city already has in place and the rebate formula remains unchanged for Great Bend’s two target areas.  

The plan is an attempt to unify into one plan as best as possible, while still giving some autonomy to the individual cities, Francis said. Currently, every city in the county has its own plan which are all set to expire at the end of the year.

The County Commission approved the interlocal agreement last Tuesday and all entities wishing to participate must approve the agreement as well. Once all parties have signed it, the agreement will be sent to the Kansas Attorney General for final approval.

County officials have said their intent is to have the new plan submitted to the state by the end of the month so there is time to make changes if necessary before year’s end, Francis said. But, should that not be the case, he’s been assured that NRP applications coming in after the Dec. 31 expiration date and before a new plan is finalized would be covered retroactively.

The idea first came up in March during a joint City Council-Barton County Commission meeting and the council backed the idea. In the interim, officials from both entities have been working on the details. 

Making a few changes

According to the plan, through tax rebates, the goal is to stabilize neighborhoods by rehabilitating older homes, stimulate residential and business property development, provide incentives to landlords, and create construction jobs. 

“Many Barton County residents have limited resources, and a tax rebate incentive will stimulate the restoration of houses and foster rural sustainability,” the plan reads. “The plan is intended to promote and improve the overall quality of life in the county.”  

To this end, each community, as well as the county, had different qualification criteria, Francis said. Under the combo plan, “there will be rebate areas where they can dictate the criteria.”

As is, the county-wide proposal calls for a 10-year plan. 

Great Bend currently has two target areas. One is the primary area with a 10-year rebate plan, and the other a secondary area with a five-year rebate plan.

Those will remain. But, Great Bend and the other cities (which also have different plan lengths) have all agreed to compromise on the eligibility criteria.

These guidelines include such things as  minimum investment percentage, increase in valuation and size of the rebates. These vary from city to city.

“The one change that everybody has agreed to regards the qualifications,” Francis said. For Great Bend, currently the minimum investment amount for eligibility is $5,000 for residential properties and $10,000 for commercial, but one also has to meet a 5% increase in valuation for residential and 10% for commercial.

Everybody has agreed to change that to a $10,000 minimum investment in residential and $20,000 in commercial. The city plan is pretty much echoed in the county plan, said County Appraiser Wendy Prosser. The numbers stay the same, with agricultural land improvements following the residential guidelines.

The program is a tax rebate on properties that qualify based on eligibility. By giving a tax rebate on the increase in value, it’s not giving away tax dollars that are already there, only delaying the time that the entities will receive the tax dollars for new construction/valuation.

In addition, in order to qualify, property owners must be current on their taxes.

What is an NRP?

The Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative is a federal interagency collaborative dating back to 2007. The idea is to support local communities in developing and obtaining the tools they need to revitalize neighborhoods of concentrated poverty into neighborhoods of opportunity.

The program is spearheaded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.