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Grants available for downtown buildings
A new grant program offered through the city of Fort Scott is designed to provide incentive for downtown business owners to fix up their properties.
Jim Pitts, a member of a subcommittee of the Downtown Buildings and Infrastructure Action Team, which played a key role in the creation of the grant program, brought a proposal for the program before the Fort Scott City Commission Aug. 20. Commissioners later approved the grant program after Pitts' presentation.
Pitts said grant funds must be used for such projects as repairs, renovations, building safety and historic rehabilitation.
"This is to help business owners to maintain buildings and make improvements," he said.
To be eligible for a grant, properties must be listed in the Fort Scott Downtown Historic District. Pitts added cosmetic projects will likely not qualify.
"We want to make sure the downtown buildings are stabilized and don't fall into any further disrepair and maintain their architectural heritage," he said.
For the first year of the grant program, the city has set aside $30,000 from the economic development fund. Grant money will fund 50 percent of a qualifying improvement project, up to the amount of a building's current annual property taxes.
"We will use the amount of property tax that a property owner pays as a qualifying number," Pitts said. "They will be eligible for up to 50 percent of the total you spend, capped off to be no more than what you spend on property taxes."
Pitts emphasized that it is not a tax rebate program but still provides an incentive for property owners. The property tax figure is used to determine how much money the property owner qualifies for, he said.
"That's what makes it a real incentive program," he said. "A building owner pays 'x' number of taxes each year. If they can get money back to spend on improvements, that makes it an incentive."
He added grant funds could make improvement projects more affordable for property owners, especially if they're having a difficult time coming up with funds.
"It's more of an incentive when money is available to refund to you for money you're going to spend," Pitts said.
Director of Economic Development Heather Griffith said she views the grant program as a start toward making improvements to downtown historic buildings.
"It demonstrates the city's commitment to our downtown, that we're working to revitalize it and help as we can," she said. "We want to get buildings in better shape. It's a good incentive. It's not a lot of money, but it shows that we care and the Downtown Action Team is making progress toward some of their goals. This is a start."
She added, "It's difficult for downtown building owners to improve their property value. Some also have trouble coming up with funds to make improvements."
According to the grant program's purpose statement, the program is to serve as an incentive for full occupancy of buildings in the Historic District by assisting building owners with the financial burden of maintaining and improving the structures.
To apply for a grant, prior to construction, the applicant must obtain a grant application at City Hall from Griffith and the appropriate permit from the codes department. The applicant must then submit a copy of any permit along with the completed and signed application to Griffith.
A three-person grant committee, consisting of Griffith, Codes Manager Brent Crays and a representative of the Downtown Buildings and Infrastructure Action Team, which will review the application and provide the applicant with a pre-approval for grant funds.
"We will look at the application to determine if it meets the guidelines," Pitts said.
The project must begin with 30 days and completed with one year of the grant pre-approval date. Upon completion of the project, the applicant shall notify Crays for review of work and provide copies of itemized project invoices and receipts to Griffith for reimbursement. Griffith will disburse grant monies to the applicant, according to the grant proposal document