With a deadline for a decision on Heber City Council’s plan to reinvest in its downtown, both the city and County Council met to discuss the proposed community reinvestment area this week. Heber City Council, Wasatch County Council and the Wasatch County School District are the three main players in this decision. Both the County Council and school district have expressed hesitation to move forward with a community reinvestment area this year. An agreement needs to be determined by the end of December to get the proposed tax benefit, but the county councilors decided to schedule a vote after holding another public hearing. Details on that meeting have not been determined.“This is important to us, and you get to decide,” Heber City Councilor Mike Johnston said Wednesday. “You get to make a decision and we’re going to ask for that by the end of the year.” Matt Brower, Heber City manager, said before the meeting that without a decision by Dec. 31, Heber City would see a “huge loss for revenue into the downtown area.”“An important part is that the downtown is not taking any base revenues away from the school district or the county. They continue to go back to the entities,” Brower said. “What we’re doing is taking our proportion, which is 75%, and reinvesting it in the downtown to generate more investment, which will ultimately make its way back to the coffers of the school board and county council when the (community reinvestment area’s) life ends in 20 years.” Heber City councilors have been in talks with the County Council and school board for nearly three years about the community reinvestment plan. Along with a lack of enthusiasm for the plan from the County Council, the Wasatch County School Board has been almost silent on the matter. Kim Dickerson, the presumed winner of Wasatch County School District Seat F, spoke for the board. “We have not come to a decision on that,” Dickerson said. “There’s just nothing to say.”According to Johnston, the community reinvestment area plan would jumpstart the revitalization of downtown Heber City. Of the projected projects involved in the plan, Heber City outlined 13 endeavors across four categories: land acquisition, parking improvements, downtown infrastructure improvements and buildings and amenities. As an example, Johnston cited the newly opened Smith’s Marketplace in downtown Heber City, where the city invested $1.6 million. “They brought in $42 million,” Johnston said. He also explained that “the (community reinvestment area) gets a loan and leverages the money to attract private investment which, in turn, increases property taxes on those redeveloped properties.”Johnston explained that, essentially, a community reinvestment area acts similarly to a resident getting a loan on a rental property, and then paying off that loan with the increased rent payments.“In 20 years you’ve paid off the loan, and now 100% stays in your pocket,” Johnston said. One county councilor expressed his hesitation in supporting the plan.“My biggest concern since day one with the (community reinvestment area) is, fundamentally, that we are elected as the taxing authority,” he said. “If there’s one thing in my mind that’s the most important thing we do is decide how those tax dollars are disseminated or used.” If the Wasatch County Council and Wasatch County School District move to support Heber City’s community reinvestment area, Brower also said that neither entity will have a seat on the agency board.“However, to that end, we have included language in the inner local agreement, which allows for the creation of two subcommittees,” Brower said. “Those subcommittees would consist of representatives from the county council and the school board.” Details about Heber City’s proposed community reinvestment area can be found at envisionheber.com.The post Wasatch County Council delays decision on Heber City’s community reinvestment area appeared first on Park Record.