Brookfield could adopt a policy establishing new economic draws to encourage developers or business owners to set up shop in town.
If approved by the village board later this month, the policy would establish new incentive programs like sales or property tax rebates for developers while making changes to existing programs, like splitting the property improvement program (PIP) into two separate grants for business owners.
Trustees discussed the policy at their June 23 committee of the whole meeting and are set to discuss it for a second time at the July 14 committee meeting. That means the earliest the policy could be approved would be at the village board’s July 28 regular meeting.
“We have some incentive programs but not a comprehensive policy, and because Brookfield is promoting having a very thriving, diverse and sustainable economy, and we have these properties, we’ve done a land assembly and we’re talking to developers actively. In doing that, some of these other incentives that they’ve talked about have come into play,” Libby Popovic, the community development director, told the Landmark. “This plan, really, is a formal framework, which right now we don’t have, and it’s a good use of a financial tool to encourage and attract additional retention and expansion of other private businesses and developments coming in. The whole overarching purposes of this is to stimulate targeted growth.”
The PIP, which reimburses businesses for 50% of the cost of exterior renovations up to $20,000, would be split into one grant for signage and awning work with a $2,000 cap and another for facade improvements and renovations with a $20,000 cap.
“We’ve outgrown it in a good way, to the extent that it’s a very popular program. It makes sense to split it up into two tiers because we’re getting a lot of inquiries. For beginning businesses, or businesses coming into the village, a lot of times, the big expense is business signage or getting an awning placed, so this is an easier way and more streamlined process,” Popovic said. “The facade and renovation grant makes sense to have as a second tier because our goal is to grow that … As we have developments, we may be able to increase that grant amount similar to what other municipalities have.”
New rebate incentives could see the village disburse a percentage of the revenue it receives from a new development’s sales or property taxes back to the developers or owners.
The sales tax rebate, as written, would allow a new business to receive at least half of Brookfield’s portion of the sales tax that business receives for up to 10 years after the business opens in town.
The property tax rebate would last for up to five years with the option for Brookfield to phase it out over time, starting at a higher percentage of property tax revenue that drops from year to year. This incentive would only be offered to developers who can invest at least $500,000 into a commercial or mixed-use development or $1 million into an industrial development.
Both rebates would be applied only to businesses or developments that show their project would be financially infeasible without assistance from Brookfield.
“It’s really a tool kit that targets both large-scale and small businesses. That’s why it’s a range, and that’s why it’s helpful to have it in a policy, because it’s not one-size-fits-all,” Popovic said. “The goal of this is that these incentives can be used in conjunction with each other or individually for a broad range, from beginning, small businesses all the way up to franchises, regional stores and bigger developments.”
Another new incentive would apply the other financial tools to target grocery stores, from full-service franchises to specialty or ethnic food grocers, grocery cooperatives or smaller urban groceries. It would not apply to convenience stores or those selling only liquor.
“We only have one, so if anything happened with that, Brookfield would essentially be a food desert. It makes sense as we look at overall community needs to have a grocery store or have several smaller grocery stores that would be able to meet the community’s needs,” Popovic said. “It’s basically recognizing that fresh food and essential grocery items are critical for health, for vibrancy, economy and so forth.”
While trustees discussed a potential local grocery tax at the same committee meeting as the incentive policy, Popovic said it didn’t carry weight with the proposal of the grocery inventive.
“You would think that it would be [a consideration], but it was just the timing of it,” she said. “That was something that was slated to be on the agenda anyway, and the economic incentive policy was supposed to be a little earlier, but with the [Brookfield] Shops, we kind of ran out of time, so I pushed the economic incentive policy to the next agenda item.”
Popovic said the version of the policy that trustees discuss on July 14 will likely have some tweaks and small changes from the initial copy they saw in June.
