Melrose Select Board Approves Disaster Relief Fund, Three TIF Resolutions in One Night

MELROSE — September 15, 2016 — Melrose Select Board approves disaster relief fund, three TIF loan resolutions, and preliminary $1.39 million tax levy in a single meeting. The board unanimously authorized the Initiative Foundation to establish a locally administered disaster relief fund with no administrative fees in the first year and 100 percent of donations directed to the community, and separately approved a $5,000 seed grant from the same organization. A foundation representative announced that the Agstar Foundation had awarded $25,000 to be divided equally among businesses that pledge to remain in Melrose following a recent disaster, with distribution planned for the following morning at City Hall. The board also passed three tax increment financing resolutions — an interfund loan of up to $1 million tied to a poultry processing company expansion, a $250,000 loan tied to a proposed market-rate apartment complex adjacent to City Hall, and a substandard-property finding for the fire-damaged 400 block — all described by city staff as drawing "a line in the sand" to preserve future reimbursement eligibility rather than committing funds outright. A preliminary 2017 tax levy of $950,000 general and $445,000 debt, totaling $1,395,000, was certified for submission to the county by September 30, with a truth-in-taxation hearing set for December 15.