Marquette City Commission approves LDFA’s bylaws

Marquette’s Local Development Finance Authority is up and running, and the Marquette City Commission approved its bylaws Monday night.

The LDFA is in charge of creating Marquette’s satellite SmartZone, an offshoot of the SmartZone in Houghton.  The LDFA does not operate totally on its own–it makes recommendations to the City Commission and the commission has the final say in any action.

One item the commission still has to approve is the LDFA’s tax increment plan.  The plan will not increase taxes for Marquette residents.

“The capture of taxes will be the incremental increase on our tax base and it won’t be in fact the total 14.922 mills that that the city levies, it’ll only be four of those mills,” Marquette Mayor Robert Niemi said.  “The amount that will be captured is only 28% of the city’s actual millage levy, so for every dollar that is captured for the LDFA to support the SmartZone, three dollars will go the state general fund.”

The LDFA will also receive funding from the state of Michigan.  The group will have a board meeting Wednesday in City Hall to discuss the SmartZone’s development.