The mall redevelopment zone is entirely in TIF District 12, as of April 2023 when the boundaries were amended.

Tax Increment Districts (TIDs) are designated areas that allow new tax increments created in the district to be used within the district to incentivize development. When a TID is created, baseline property values are frozen and the new increment subsequently generated is returned to specific projects and used for public infrastructure improvements in the area. Whether a project receives Tax Increment Financing (TIF) assistance is determined by a “but for” test. The “but for” test assesses whether the project could happen in the same location, in the same timeframe, or in the same scope “but for” TIF assistance.

TIF is not used to finance projects that could occur without assistance or projects that would not grow the tax base enough in the long term to justify its use. TIF is used to finance developments that would not otherwise occur, that increase the tax base. A large tax base helps everyone’s tax bills go down, so growth is key. TIF can encourage growth and is therefore a useful tool to grow the tax base while controlling increasing tax burdens.

TIF assistance is the primary tool to incentivize developments in Wisconsin. Wausau primarily uses reverse or pay-go TIF for qualifying developments, meaning that no up-front money is invested in the project. In these cases, the developer only receives TIF payments, generated by the project, after a project has started generating the new increment.  Click here for more information.