PAXTON — A joint-review board tasked with making a recommendation to the Paxton City Council on whether to move forward with implementing the city’s first tax-increment financing (TIF) district is expected to hold its first meeting during the week of Feb. 26.

Dan Schuering, a Springfield attorney serving as a consultant to implement the TIF district, said Monday that all six taxing bodies affected by the TIF district were mailed notices last Friday. Each of the taxing bodies will be invited to have representation on the joint-review board, Schuering said, that will be responsible for issuing an “advisory opinion” for the council to consider.

Notices were required to be sent to public bodies at least 45 days prior to the city holding a public hearing to consider the adoption of a redevelopment plan, a 100-page document required as one of the steps to implement the TIF district, Schuering said.

The public hearing is scheduled for March 28.

The joint-review board must hold its first meeting no later than 28 days after the redevelopment plan is published. The joint-review board then has 30 days to issue an opinion for the council’s consideration, Schuering said.

Schuering said the redevelopment plan is expected to be published and available for public inspection at City Hall starting Monday, Feb. 20. The document “sets forth the basis for the qualification of the area (as a TIF district) and the plan for redevelopment in that area,” Schuering said.

The TIF district — a tool intended to spur development in economically depressed areas — would include the downtown, as well as an area around the Interstate 57 interchange, where Rantoul developer Joe Warner is planning a 250-home residential subdivision, a 100-home retirement community, an assisted-living center, and new stores and restaurants. The TIF district would run along West Ottawa Road, from west of the city-owned airport to Market Street, before heading north into the downtown.

The TIF district would be used by the city to encourage development and improvements to properties within it, Schuering said. Basically, it would create a special “tax allocation fund” that would raise revenue for the city to help reimburse developers and property owners for improving their properties, Schuering said.

Schuering explained that the tax allocation fund would generate revenue as property improvements are made and properties are reassessed. The fund would receive all of the property tax revenue collected on a property that is beyond the amount of taxes collected for the property when the TIF district was implemented, Schuering said.

Schuering has said he expects “some very spirited discussions” at the joint review board’s meetings.

“All of the taxing bodies are affected by a TIF,” Schuering noted, “due to having to provide more services for residents who move in.”

One member of each of the following taxing bodies, plus a member of the public, will be asked to serve on the joint-review board: the PBL school board, the Ford County Board, the Paxton Fire Protection District board, the Paxton Carnegie Library board, the Parkland College board and the Patton Township board. The mayor will be representing the city council on the board.

The earliest date the city expects to adopt ordinances to implement the TIF district is April 9. The latest is June 23.