Business View Magazine | March 2018

157 blocks that are ripe for redevelopment?’Well,Moor- head has some of those andwe consider theman asset.” In order to spur that downtown development,Moor- head has a varietyof incentive programs in place.“We have one of the largestTIF (Tax Increment Financing) Districts in our downtown area,”Graffeo claims.“In addition,we have our Urban ProgressZone,which is a central core of our citythat needs an extra little bit of love and attention.Businesses and redevelopment projects can qualify for extended property taxexemp- tions,above and beyondwhat are available in the other areas of the city.So,we have avarietyof tools in the toolbox. “Andwe also have incentives on the residential side,” Bode adds.“We have what we call the‘MakeMoorhead Home PropertyTaxRebate.’Anynewlyconstructed home receives a two-year rebate of propertytaxes paid-everything except special levies.So,the school district,county,and the citycooperate on that rebate program to help people get into a newhome.There’s nomaximumvalue,so if you build your million-dollar home inMoorhead,you get two years of free property taxes,and the communitygets the additional growth, long-term.That was a program that we developed as a competitive response becausewe knowthat we compete for residents as well as businesses.” Moorhead is equally serious about its sustainability initiatives.“Moorhead created a newrecycling program in July2017-single sort recycling,”Volkers reports. “We’ve got about 11,000 homes and 5,000 apart- ments,and it’s been a huge,huge success for the city.” “We’ve had a curbside recycling program for more than 20 years,”adds Bode,“but inmoving to single sort,and making it a littlemore simple for people and including multi-familyapartments,we’vegone froma collection of about 45 tons amonth to over 200 tons amonth.” “We’ve got a solar garden andwe’vegot a couple of wind turbines,”saysMahli.“We’re aggressivelyseek- ing innovative strategies to support national energy independence,andwe’re working hard to find energy savings through efficiency.”