State funds designated to help area that was devastated by the 2016 tornado
In a workshop Tuesday night, the Century Council, which also serves as the Century Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) board, discussed the status of the Century CRA and the option to appoint two more board members.
A CRA is a legislative tool established by Florida law to reinvest property taxes in community revitalization projects where taxes are generated to remove slum and blight conditions within designated areas or districts.
Started in 2017, the Century CRA, funded by tax increment financing (TIF), was slow to grow and the COVID 19 pandemic put meetings on hold. No meeting has been held to discuss the CRA in more than a year. Meredith Reeves, who was hired by the town of Century to assist in economic development and grant writing administration, is now the administrator of the CRA. Reeves held the meeting to give a status to the council and present the current amount in the CRA so the council can decide how or if to spend the available finds going forward, with quarterly meetings scheduled.
The CRA encompasses an area in the town that had suffered damage due to the September 2016 tornado.
According to the website townofcenturyflorida.com, “On Sept. 4, 2017, the Town Council approved the Findings of Necessity, a document which supports the legislative finding that conditions in the proposed redevelopment area meet the criteria of blight as described in Florida Statute 163.340(8). Resolution 18-17 was passed and adopted on Sept. 11, 2017, designating the Century Community Redevelopment Area. In addition, Resolution 19-17 was passed and adopted providing for the creation of the Century Community Redevelopment Agency. Ordinance 11-18, establishing a Redevelopment Trust Fund was passed and adopted on Oct. 15, 2018.”
Reeves said the amount available to Century as of May 31, 2022 is $58,010.10.
“Now we can start thinking about projects,” said Councilman Luis Gomez. “That’s the number that we are starting with, $58,10.10. I’m satisfied with this. This is all I’ve been asking about for almost a year, an annual report, a balance, because I hate to start trying to spend money when we don’t know how much we have to spend. I’m glad we have a hard number to begin with.”
Gomez asked Reeves about the timeline of receiving annual reports and Reeves said the state report deadline to be posted is March 31 every year. Reeves said the town has to ask the county for a check to go in the CRA, in essence, the town has to bill the county for the CRA amount.
Reeves said that in the quarterly meetings is where the status and balance is updated and the pandemic ended meetings for a while. Gomez asked if the council could get regular reports even if there is no meeting going forward and Reeves said she would make sure that happened.
At the council meeting Tuesday, July 5, the council will adjourn the council meeting, open the CRA meeting, and appoint two new members to be on the board. In addition, they will appoint a committee chair person and committee vice chairman. The first person the council appoints will serve for two years. The second person appointed will serve four years.
