The ABC's of Downtown Districts
BID
Bailout?
Business improvement districts continue to be a valuable tool
to businesses across the country. While business improvement
districts and tourism improvement districts don’t need
a federal bailout, they have helped support commercial enterprises
throughout the country. Challenging
economic times have led to shrinking municipal budgets.
As cities and counties have cut back on services and funding, business and property owners have sought new ways to provide needed services. By organizing and developing stable funding for security and maintenance, or marketing and sales, they have taken their cooperative efforts to a new level. We have seen a recent surge in businesses turning to the BID mechanism as a necessary step in tough times. The most recent efforts have included a very modest levy to ensure basic services and to attract other funding. The districts are generally established for a short period (1-5) years to ensure accountability to the payors.
Leverage3
What’s the best way to attract investment from the state
and federal government? It begins with organization and includes
a good strategic plan. Organizing a group of property and
business owners around a single purpose is a basic ingredient.
We have seen many areas organize, forming a special district
or BID, add a stable funding mechanism and then draw millions
of dollars in outside investment. These initial dollars can
be used to design capital improvements, organize an advocacy
effort, or match other state or federal funds. Areas that
are organized and well-funded are much more competitive than
those that are not. We have many recent examples of organizations
funded by a BID that used their seed money to gain several
times their BID amount in external funding.