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memorandum Item No. 8 TO: Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and City Council FROM: Rose Beverly, City Manager Stephanie H. Harris, City Attorney SUBJECT: Approval of Expenditure of $100,000.00 from the TIRZ Fund to support the 111 St. Revitalization Program DATE: July 14, 2025 BACKGROUND: In 2019, the City Council created the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 1 (the TIRZ) for the purposes of financing downtown improvements. Thereafter, in February of 2020, the TIRZ Board of Directors (the Board) presented a Project and Financing Plan (the Plan) to Council for approval. After a public hearing, the Council adopted the Plan. The Plan, as currently adopted, includes street, utility, landscape, and streetscape improvements, including East 1St St. In 2023, the City applied for and was awarded a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) of $500,000.00 to revitalize the section of East Ist St. between Clarksville St. and Lamar Avenue. The project is currently over budget, and the City wishes to add additional bump outs to narrow the street. Construction is well underway, and will need to be completed by the end of this year in order to meet the conditions of the grant. The Lamar County Chamber of Commerce has agreed to contribute to the project, and at its meeting on July 10, 2025, the Board approved an expenditure of $100,000.00 to go towards the project. This funding will assure that the bump outs can be constructed. STATUS OF ISSUE: State law requires that the City Council approve all TIRZ Fund expenditures. This particular expenditure is approved in the Plan and is of the precise nature that the TIRZ Plan, as it currently exists, contemplates. The TIRZ Fund, prior to this expenditure, has a balance of $252,097.66. The only other expenditure from the fund to date was for the services of Forked Pine Consultants in creating a modeling tool for making more precise projections of future revenues and advising the Board on TIRZ related matters. BUDGET: None to the City per se; the funding will reduce the TIRZ Fund by $100,000.00. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends approving the expenditure of $100,000.00 from the TIRZ Fund to help fund the 1St St. revitalization project.