2013 JUNE STM AC Rpt - Laserfiche WebLink

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APPROPRIATION COMMITTEE REPORT TO THE JUNE 2013 STM Warrant Article Analysis and Recommendations This report provides the Appropriation Committee's analysis of two articles with financial impact in the Warrant for the June 2013 Special Town Meeting. Article 2: Approve TIF Funds Funding Committee Agreement(s) Requested Source Recommendation N/A N/A Approve (8-0) The motion will ask Town Meeting to authorize the Board of Selectmen to adopt a Tax Increment Fi- nance (TIF) Agreement between uniQure, Incorporated and the Town of Lexington. The TIF Agreement would cover the property at 113 Hartwell Avenue, which is owned by King 113 Hartwell Avenue, LLC. The building at this address has a total of 102,000 sq. ft., of which 20,000 sq. ft. is currently occupied by another tenant. In order to satisfy their manufacturing requirements, uniQure plans to renovate 52,000 sq. ft. of the unde- veloped space in the building,which will include raising the roof over a 17,000 sq. ft. section. This would leave 30,000 sq. ft. of the building unoccupied. The baseline assessment for the 52,000 sq. ft. portion of 113 Hartwell Avenue that uniQure would occupy is $5,720,000 for FY2014. It is estimated that the assessed value for this portion of the building will be $10,777,000 after the proposed renovations are completed. Thus, in FY2015, the increment to the base- line assessment would be $5,057,000. The TIF Agreement would temporarily reduce the property taxes on the increment in the assessed value due to the renovations; it would not reduce the property taxes on the baseline assessed value of the building. uniQure has agreed to "clawback"provisions that would allow the Town to reclaim a portion of the TIF discounts if the company does not occupy the building for the full 10 years of the TIF Agreement. If the development goes forward, uniQure plans to hire 115 full-time employees with an average salary of $85,000 per year. 1