Key West has a good problem: $700,000 in special tax revenue that needs to be put to good use. The article below from KeysNet.com provides some insight what is planned for this surplus.
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More than $700,000 in Key West projects up for grabs
By SEAN KINNEY
The Key West City Commission on Feb. 22 will consider how to divvy up $720,000 in special tax revenue, considering five different applications, two of which are city-led construction projects meant to beautify the Key West Bight area.
The Caroline Street Corridor Tax Increment Fund, the source of the available funding, raises money every year for allocation into infrastructure projects for the Old Town neighborhood, including the neighboring bight.
Beginning in 1996, city officials created the Community Redevelopment Agency to oversee the Key West Bight, Caroline Street Corridor, Trumbo Road and -- on the other side of town -- parts of Bahama Village that had all were declared blighted.
With that designation, 1996 became the baseline. Any tax revenue generated based on the increase in property values above that baseline is collected and then reinvested in the area through the TIF.
The first city request is for $720,000 to do a major overhaul of the road, sidewalks and stormwater drainage system on Caroline and Trumbo roads.
The next asks for $68,000 to construct a roundabout at the end of William Street; that's just one piece of a larger $1 million plan called the Key West Bight Common Area Enhancement Plan, based on a scheme by architect Michael Ingram that has the area retain its seafaring heritage while creating focal points to attract visitors by way of four plazas at the termini of Greene, William, Margaret and Grinnell streets.
The third city request, in a departure from the brick-and-mortar theme, contemplates spending $79,000 to have a full-time bicycle or foot patrol police officer assigned to the bight, a popular area for homeless and panhandlers.
The other two requests come from the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity of Key West and the Lower Keys and the Conch Harbor Retail Center, an association of private businesses.
The former wants $50,000 to repair elder housing that's in the affected area; the latter wants $146,000 to improve its privately owned stretch of harbor walk, which adjoins parts owned by the city, in the manner spelled out in the enhancement plan.
Source: http://www.keysnet.com/2012/02/22/423991/more-than-700000-in-key-west-projects.html