Hays school board to discuss Hilton Hotel TIF district

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

The Hays USD 489 school board will discuss a tax increment financing district for a proposed $19.3 million Hays hotel project at its meeting Monday night.

Hilton Garden Hotel would be a 100-room hotel with a conference center. It would be located just west of Walmart in the Ottley Addition.

Because both the county and school district receive property tax money from the land in question, both entities have veto power over the project.

A TIF district is a public financing plan authorized by the state. A TIF figures the difference between the original value of the land and new value of the developed property. The taxing entities still collect the taxes on the original value, but the taxes on the increased value go back to the developer to use on financing and infrastructure improvements, such as water, sewer, roads and parking. The TIF would be in effect for 20 years.

The school district would see a partial increase in the funds it receives on the new development under the TIF district. The developers would still have to pay the general fund school mill level of 20 mills and the Hays district’s capital outlay fund of 8-mill levy on the improvements.

The district would not receive an increase in property tax for its supplemental levy of 14.92 mills or its .646 mill declining enrollment levy.

Jacob Wood, assistant city manager, will be on hand to answer the board’s questions on the taxing district.

The school board also plans to discuss the handling of a threat made against the high school on Feb. 12.

The board will also discuss a Hays High School concrete bid, hear an Early Childhood Connections Grant Review, discuss the administrative handbook, discuss contracts for building-level administrators and discuss the superintendent’s evaluation process.