Mallory Herrmann
citydesk@lstribune.net

While city councilmembers, commissioners and staff often give a brief explanation of economic development incentives when they come up during public meetings, all those acronyms can become confusing in a hurry.

This continues a series from the Tribune to help members of the public better understand what these tools are and how they’re used by communities like ours.

Transportation development districts (TDD) can impose sales tax up to 1 percent (in 1/8 percent increments) that can be used to fund transportation improvements. Developers are responsible for paying for those costs upfront for those transportation projects, including roads, bridges, intersections, signage and signaling.

Once the development is finished, the TDD can begin receiving those extra sales tax revenues to reimburse that cost (or a portion of that cost).

Like CIDs, TDDs are formed as a special taxing district and operate as a separate political subdivision. They can be formed by area residents, property owners or transportation entities.

In Lee’s Summit, the city council votes on whether to approve each proposed TDD.