The highlighted area in this aerial shot of Alva is the proposed Tax Increment District. There are no property or sales tax increases in this area. Instead, the current tax revenue and sales tax revenue becomes a baseline. After the arena is built, any new construction (for example, a few motels or restaurants), would be NEW tax revenue (above the previous baseline) because of the traffic drawn by the arena. This new money becomes available to help pay infrastructure development such as wider roads, major sewer line expansions and similar needs for such a large project. The arena itself would be financed by local money and not from the TIF District. This method has been used to finance such projects as Bricktown in Oklahoma City.
