The City of Carmel wants to know what its residents think about its use of tax increment financing.
The city launched a survey on Jan. 26 that asks community members if they believe using TIF to finance projects — such as the Palladium and Midtown Plaza — have produced a good return on investment. It also seeks to understand how well the Carmel community understands the financing mechanism.
“We hope Carmel residents will take a few minutes to participate in the survey. We want you to reflect on development and redevelopment projects that the city has undertaken to improve life in the community, along with our partners in private development,” Mayor Jim Brainard stated in a press release. “Your responses to this survey are very important and will help city leadership understand what is working well and where there may be areas for potential improvement.”
The 15-minute survey is part of a study being conducted by Maryland-based Community Data Platforms, which will use survey results and other information to create the Carmel Data Platform, a living data library that CDP will update for at least six months. Through the platform, CDP aims to provide a wealth of information for nonprofits, government entities and small businesses in one place so each entity won’t have to continually hire their own consultants to compile it.
The city is paying CDP $280,000 to study the city’s use of roundabouts and TIF, with philanthropic initiative Schmidt Futures chipping in an additional $140,000. CDP is gathering data from a variety of sources to determine the costs and benefits of roundabouts and TIF, return on investment and public perception.
Participation in the TIF survey is voluntary, and individual responses will be kept confidential.
Take the survey at carmeldataplatform.com/survey. The survey will be available for at least three weeks.
