Clay County Commission

Dan Haglund

The Clay County Board of Commissioners agreed to provide a letter of support for the Moorhead Center Mall Redevelopment Tax Increment Finance district extension from five to 10 years on Tuesday in Moorhead.
The massive redevelopment area of nearly 18 acres in downtown Moorhead is set to cost more than $500 million.
Lisa Bode, Governmental Affairs director for the City of Moorhead, explained the project’s complexities while making a pitch to the board to reiterate local support at the state level.
“We believe we will need more than five years to fully build it out,” Bode said. “Because it’s complex, there’s new streets that have to be built, there are multiple multi-story buildings, and so it’s about 10 times the size of a normal tax increment district.”
Bode said the city put this bill forth last year, and it passed both the tax committees in both the state House and Senate. But she added that there was unfortunately no tax bill passed last year.
She said the same request will be brought down to St. Paul again this year, so a fresh letter of support from the board would bolster the momentum when a new hearing is planned.
Commissioner Jenny Mongeau, Dist. 3, inquired about the reason for requesting a Tax Increment Finance (TIF) district for the entire 18 acres of downtown instead of splicing it out between multiple developers.
“It is tricky, but this is not a single building project,” Bode said. “We can’t divide the project … the TIF will pay for the cost of acquisition, demolition of the Moorhead Center Mall, the street installation and all of the utility work.”
Bode said all the cost has to be divided between the parcels of the project.
She also backed up to explain this particular TIF.
“We take the existing value that remains taxable,” Bode said. “And then the new value of the buildings and improvements is captured to repay the costs of the redevelopment for a period of time.”
Mongeau advocated for a harder push with this request in St. Paul this year, given the recent turmoil with a divided House struggling to act cohesively.
“Hopefully we can get this past the finish line,” Mongeau said.