By Jerry LaMartina

Developers of the Mission Crossing and Cornerstone Commons projects got some year-end stocking stuffers in the form of increased and newly established expenditure limits for the developments’ tax-increment financing (TIF) and community improvement district (CID) funds.

At its Dec. 21 meeting, the Mission City Council unanimously approved a 2016 budget amendment which increased the expenditure limit for the Mission Crossing TIF/CID fund to $233,480 from an earlier estimate of $187,000, and which established an expenditure limit of $61,500 for the Cornerstone Commons CID fund.

During the meeting’s public hearing, which state law requires for a budget amendment, Mission Finance Director Brian Scott said the city’s earlier estimate of $187,000 in expenditures for the Mission Crossing fund was based mainly on revenue from sales and property taxes for the development’s retail component. The full property tax increment wasn’t collected until the retail portion was completed.

The Mission Crossing TIF District was created in 2010, and the city started collecting the sales tax increment from the development in 2013. The fund’s proceeds go back to the developer to help it pay for eligible project costs.

The Cornerstone Commons CID wasn’t yet established in the summer of 2015, when the fiscal 2016 budget was completed, Scott said. The development’s CID pays for specified improvements related to the project, including the acquisition and donation of public property, streetscape and enhanced glazing in buildings. The development was completed in July 2015.

“The amendments to these funds are not the result of unanticipated or unauthorized expenditures, but rather are the result of developing an expenditure history (for) two funds that are new,” according to council documents related to the meeting.

No one from the general public spoke at the hearing.

The Welstone opened in February 2016. The three-story, independent-living rental community for seniors has 101 one- and two-bedroom apartments, each including an oven range, refrigerator, microwave and washer and dryer in six floor plans. Construction started in April 2014, but delays pushed its opening back from the originally announced timeline of early 2015. LANE4 Property Group, Tetrad Property Group and Welcov Healthcare partnered on the project.

Developer Dave Christie’s Cornerstone Commons was originally proposed in the summer of 2013. The Mission Planning Commission approved code changes for a revised plan in June 2014.