The City of Fort Wayne has been awarded $33 million in federal funding for future development projects. Mayor Tom Henry made the announcement Wednesday.
The City of Fort Wayne is the only entity in Indiana to receive funds from the New Markets Tax Credit Program this year. It grants tax credits to investors for development projects in low-income communities.
In 2008 Fort Wayne received approximately $15 million from the program, which went towards completing the Harrison project downtown.
Sharon Feasel of the City of Fort Wayne says developers and investors are already looking to use the credits and partner with the city for large projects.
“Using these tax credits requires some additional effort on the parts of the developers," says Feasel, "but the net benetfit to them often allows a project that otherwise would not have happened, be successfully implemented.”
Feasel says her team has not yet begun to review projects that may receive the funding.
Less than 30 percent of applicants nationwide were awarded funding, many of the recipients being banks and nationwide non-profits. The City of Fort Wayne will have control over allocating the tax credits, which will be dispersed over the next few years.