On Thursday, January 8, the Pleasant Prairie Village Board approved the issuance and sale of $6,000,000 in general obligation promissory notes for work in its Tax Incremental District (TID) #2. The money will be used to pay for project costs related to the frontage road system being constructed to serve the Uline and Abbott Laboratories properties. Uline is constructing a corporate campus just west of I-94 in Pleasant Prairie, and the Pleasant Prairie Board approved a development agreement for land owned by Abbott Laboratories, north of the Uline site, just over one year ago.

"We began watching for favorable borrowing conditions in late 2008 but delayed issuing the notes until January to take advantage of traditionally lower interest rates after the start of the new year," commented Kathy Goessl, Finance Director for the Village. "This strategy, in addition to our recently upgraded credit rating, will save over $500,000 in interest costs." During 2008, Standard & Poor's upgraded Pleasant Prairie's long-term credit rating on two separate occasions, once in January from A+ to AA-, and again in early December from AA- to AA.

The newly issued notes will mature in six years, by September of 2015. The debt will be repaid with property taxes from businesses within the district. During 2009, the Property Tax Increment, or the amount allocated to pay down all of the district's debt, will be just over $4.4 million. Property taxes collected from the general population, or properties outside of the TID boundaries, are not used to pay for any TID improvements, programs or debt.

The Village established the district in 1999 and has been making improvements throughout the last decade to make the area suitable for economic development. These include the acquisition of land, the installation of fiber to accommodate high-speed internet and digital media services, the construction of sanitary sewer and water mains, and the construction of roadway improvements to prepare the area for increased traffic.