UpdateNew Missouri HTC Rules
Rosin Preservation attended the DED Rules and Regulations Workshop hosted by Historic Revitalization for Missouri held in Kansas City on May 21. DED staff Mark Pauley and Bongkotch Anderson provided an update on the new rules. Most of the content was the same as that presented at the St. Louis workshop at the end of April (see synopsis below).
Key Take Aways:
• Roughly $92 million of projects are approved and waiting allocation on July 1. This does not include projects still in review at SHPO.
• SHPO has staffed up, and Part 2 applications from spring 2018 are in review at NPS. They are also starting to review Part 3s submitted in early 2019.
• DED has sent letters to applicants who submitted applications 8/28/18-3/30/19 to let them know what additional information they will need to provide, per the new guidelines.
• DED is interpreting the new rules as they must deplete the $90 million pot before allocating the additional $30 million to projects in distressed areas (OZ/QCT). This means that projects in distressed areas may receive an allocation from the main pot before the $30 million is touched, which could affect the number of non-distressed area projects that get an allocation.
• Any project can elect to be a “small project.” This would cap tax credits at $274,999 and skip the scoring/allocation process, even if QRE would allow for more tax credits.
• If a project fails to meet the 9-month test for starting construction (10% of QRE expended), that credit award will be rescinded and the credits allocated to another project in the queue. This is a positive change, as there has never been a process in the past to capture and reallocate credits from projects that did not move forward.
• Likewise, if an applicant does not respond to a DED request for information within 90 days the project will be considered inactive and the allocation of credits will be revoked.
• The evaluation of a project’s benefit to the local taxing jurisdiction will consider all enhancements of local taxes, including PILOTS. But, this provision may still work against projects that receive tax abatement as a local development incentive.
• The required documentation that DED will accept in lieu of a building permit, zoning approval, and financing commitments is evolving. A letter from a permitting agency, a zoning map, or LOI for financing (from all sources) may be acceptable. Please contact us or see the DED website for the latest information.
• The Office of Administration has released an RFP to create a pool of eligible CPA firms that an applicant can hire to complete the review of their cost certification in lieu of waiting for DED to complete that work. This will significantly speed up the review of Final applications.
The new rules, guidelines, and more are available here.
How to Comment:
DED is accepting comments until 2:00 pm on May 30. Historic Revitalization and Missouri Growth Alliance are both working on comprehensive comments. It is also important that they hear from users of the program about specific issues and concerns. The number of comments submitted on different issues will show DED and the legislature which of the new rules make the program particularly untenable for users.
Missouri Growth Association has drafted boilerplate text for five key issues. Email us at info@rosinpreservation.com for a copy and feel free to use the sample language as a starting point. Please adapt it where possible with specific examples of how the issue(s) will affect your projects.
Email comments to redevelopment@ded.mo.gov or mail them to
Department of Economic Development
General Counsel
PO box 1157
Jefferson City MO 65102-1157
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