On Monday, representatives from Greene County Development Corporation spoke to the County Supervisors about possible tax increment financing (TIF) projects.

GCDC Executive Director Ken Paxton talked about the idea of generating new interest for an initial 16-unit apartment complex with property that JCorp owns by the water tower in Jefferson. The project originally started in 2015, but due to a “financial gap” between the appraisal of the property and the City having no other market-rate comparables, the project came to a halt.

Paxton told the Supervisors there was about a $600,000 gap to make up and they are working to get a workforce housing tax credit to close that gap. Region XII Council of Governments Executive Director Rick Hunziker said the total cost of the project is $2.2 million and the tax credit is based not on income levels, but on construction of the project. The tax credit would provide up to 20-percent of the cost of construction.

Paxton asked the Supervisors to contribute $130,000 toward the project and he’s requesting $170,000 from the City of Jefferson. Paxton noted the Board could use TIF from the wind turbines as their payment. However, the window is closing fast because the wind turbines could be operational within the next couple of weeks.

Supervisor Chair John Muir said the Board felt comfortable with the money figure, but they thought they could get the funds through other means and not have to TIF the wind turbines.