As many of you who are involved in developing projects in urban renewal or downtown development areas know, the principal method for financing such projects is tax increment financing (TIF).

Tax increment financing is implemented largely by the assessors and treasurers of each county. The principal authority these offices use to determine how to implement tax increment financing—how to calculate and remit increment in a wide variety of circumstances—is the Property Tax Assessor’s Manual. Specifically, Chapter 12 of the Assessor’s Manual deals with tax increment financing implementation.