CALUMET — Leah Polzien, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority, offered a public presentation via the internet last Thursday in which she explained the importance of a downtown district to a community, then went on to explain the purpose and function of a Downtown Development Authority (DDA).

Using a slideshow to illustrate her points, Polzien said Calumet’s DDA is funded almost entirely by a TIF, or a Tax Increment Finance district.

Tax increment financing is a public financing method that is used for DDAs to promote economic development, redevelopment, infrastructure, and other community-improvement projects. Through the use of TIF, municipalities typically divert future property tax revenue increases from a defined area or district toward an economic development project or public improvement project in the community.

Across Michigan, DDAs were created by Act 197of 1975, to provide for the establishment of a downtown development authority; to prescribe its powers and duties. In 2018, the Act became Act 57 of 2018, which also provided for the re-codification and establishment of certain tax increment finance authorities.

“Village Ordinance 110 is what created our DDA, locally,” said Polzien, “and the purpose of the Authority is to halt property valuation decrease and increase valuation where possible, and eliminate causes of deterioration, promote growth, and accomplish other items set out.”

Niether the ordinance nor the Act tell the DDA what to do to achieve that goal, she continued, or mandate where funding must be spent.

• Polzein said typical programs projects of a DDA include:

• Business design and recruitment.

• Design of public parks.

• Infrastructure support.

• Redevelopment of vacant or underutilized properties.

• Stabilization and rehabilitation of historic properties.

• Parking management, which may include maintaining parking meters.

• Marketing and promotion of the district.

• Running district events, such as farmers markets.

“In Calumet,” she said, “we know our buildings are super important, they’re beautiful, they’re great, we want to keep them around,” said Polzien. “We hate to see those properties lost to demolition by, say, neglect, fire, but when we lose a building, it’s a big hole and it’s hard to fill.”

The village, she said, has acquired several properties over the years, most of which were before she became involved with the DDA. In the past, the DDA has acquired properties that were in poor condition, stabilized them, and retained them for future redevelopment, and these buildings are waiting to be redeveloped.

Currently, the buildings owned by the DDA include 512 Portland Street (corner of Sixth and Portland streets), and 427 Fifth Street.The former Paine-Webber building in the 300 block of Fifth Street was owned by the DDA, she said, but has been sold.

Another building with a historic importance is the old Mihelcich Slaughter House, on which, Polzien said, much discussion could be had.

“That’s our preservation side,” Polzien said. “We want to see these buildings preserved. We’ll help put a roof on them, get them buttoned up, just so we don’t see anymore deterioration, then our goal is to move those properties onto a developer who is interested.”

Calumet DDA also supports facade and design grants, such as the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) Community Development Block Grant, which made facade work done on a number of buildings.

“In the past, we’ve also done facade grants with individual property owners, where we match up to $2,500,” Polzien said, “and we had a pool of, I think, $10,000 to do that with.”

The DDA has also supported village snow removal and equipment needs, street sweeping, and similar projects,she added, and village infrastructure, including the bricks used for paving on Fifth Street.