Hannibal city leaders put together petition for proposed Community Improvement District

HANNIBAL (WGEM) - An effort is underway in parts of Hannibal to reverse declining property tax returns and promote investment in the area.

Hannibal city officials say they’re moving one step forward in the right direction to create a Community Improvement District (CID).

Maria Kuhns with the Hannibal Regional Economic Development Council said the CID boundary includes properties along Mark Twain Avenue, 3rd Street, Broadway, and Main Street. Kuhns said they just received state approval to create the CID, but that’s not the final step.

“We have the full legal petition with the proposed board members and the proposed boundaries,” Kuhns said. “That we can now take to the property owners for signature.”

Kuhns said they need the owners of more than half of those properties (51 percent) to sign off. She said this would mean owners would agree on their business or property to operate as a separate political entity in which sales taxes within the district would be bumped up one percent.

Hannibal Area Chamber of Commerce executive director McKenzie Disselhorst said operating a CID would turn focus on less busy parts of town such as Broadway St.

“We’ve had a lot of growth and positive momentum on Main St.,” Disselhorst said. “We’re starting to see that spread up Broadway but we need to continue that.”

Disselhorst said money collected from the CID would offer multiple benefits.

“Projects like infrastructure or façade improvements for businesses,” Disselhorst said. “Possibly even funds that could help people start new businesses on the corridors within the CID.”

Disselhorst said they would get this money through the available property tax that’s already being collected and divert it into a different fund.

Kuhns said even without the CID downtown Hannibal has come a long way.

“This is a way to accelerate it,” Kuhns said. “To improve the vibrancy, the tourism, and making Hannibal a great place to live.”

Kuhns said parcel owners within the proposed CID boundaries are invited to a public meeting on Monday May 15 in the Mark Twain Museum Gallery at 6 p.m.

There will be more information at the meeting as well as an opportunity to sign the petition.

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