The City of Monmouth continues to see interest in the newly established tax increment finance district.
City Administrator Lew Steinbrecher says that there is growing interest from small businesses to take on renovations.
“There’s a lot of interest in both the Downtown TIF and the new Main Street TIF,” Steinbrecher told WGIL on Tuesday. “I can tell you that we’ve seen some interest from small businesses here in town that are looking to undertake some rehabilitation projects. So, I think you’re going to continue to see projects emerge and we’ll see similar success stories in the future.”
On Monday, the City Council approved the application for the Downtown TIF Commercial Building Rehabilitation Grant for Robbins and Treat LLC, renovating the former Term City building, The city will reimburse 30 percent of the estimated project cost, totaling $9,100.37.
Aldermen also approved a term sheet agreement with Land Management Partners for the newly established Main Street TIF, for which $329,700 in TIF reimbursements are estimated to be rebated.
LMP is rehabilitating the existing building at 721 North Main Street into a modern business office.
Steinbrecher also says that a handful of businesses have reached out to administrators of Monmouth about getting Federal CARES Act money to help cover COVID-related expenses last year.
Steinbrecher says now that the deadline for awarding grants has been extended through June, there’s plenty of time for small businesses to take advantage of the grants.
“We’ve got about $188,000 and we only spent down about $35,000 so we’ve still got $150,000 available and extending that timeline will help us help many other local businesses. And we’ve got [three to five] since we re-opened the program. We’re going to be able to make some more reimbursement grants to Monmouth businesses.”
Steinbrecher adds that he’s glad the city is in the position where it can help out so many local businesses in town.
