Eight months after the Bettendorf sports complex opened for business, the city has yet to determine how much developers will contribute to the $760,000 cost overrun for streets, sewers and storm water detention for the facility.
The city has paid $4.63 million for the project's entry roads, interior walkways, sewer and storm water facilities to date. That's $760,000 more than the city agreed to pay under its development agreement with BettPlex developers Doug Kratz and Kevin Koellner.
All the bills for the infrastructure work have been paid by taxpayers, but city officials have yet to ask developers to pick up even a portion of the expenses beyond the $3.87-million "limit" specified in the legal agreement.
In a cost summary provided this week to bettendorf.com, the city again indicated it won't charge the developers $308,000 for entry roads because the streets were "required by the city" to be built "to city standards."
The city also still plans to subtract $235,000 from the off-site sanitary sewer cost even though developers routinely pay for all or part of sewer line extensions to serve their subdivisions/developments.
Even with the deductions, the city so far has paid $250,000 in excess of the development agreement cap. More expenses also may be coming since the widening and intersection improvements at Middle and Forest Road (including new traffic signals) haven't been completed.
While city officials have been slow to seek reimbursement for the cost overruns, they acted quickly to sell back to the same developers seven acres of land adjacent to the sports complex under terms of the same development agreement.
That land purchase option allowed the developer to buy back the land at the same price ($600,000) as the city paid the developers in 2016. That despite the street and sewer enhancements the city built that serve the property.
The city has yet to complete the land transaction, or get the $600,000 payment, despite having the land rezoned from agriculture to commercial at the request of the developers.
The action has allowed the developers to put off paying the $600,000 to the city, while giving the developers control of the land.
It also avoids higher property tax assessments on the land since commercial zoning significantly increases the property value, and preserves at least another year of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) rebates to the developers once the land is developed. The city provided a 20-year TIF for the sports complex and surrounding property so all incremental property taxes from the sports complex and surrounding properties will be rebated annually for 20 years.
CLICK HERE for sports complex cost summary from July 2017.
CLICK HERE for sports complex cost summary from July 2018.
CLICK HERE for sports complex cost summary from December 2018.
CLICK HERE to download a copy of the development agreement between the city and the sports complex owner.
