The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
BID looks to include entire borough
SOUDERTON » The end of this year also marks the end of the five-year initial term for the Business Improvement District in the borough.
“We’ve been busy, but we want to do more. We think there’s a lot more that we can do for Souderton,” BID Chairperson Margaret Zglinicki, accompanied by BID re-authorization committee members, said at the Souderton Borough Council Feb. 17 work session meeting.
Under state rules, BIDs can be approved for a minimum of five years or a maximum of 20 years, after which there can again be a vote by the business property owners in the district to continue the BID, Zglinicki said.
The group is again proposing a five-year term, she said.
“We figure five years is a good number because we need to really prove ourselves periodically to the property owners,” she said. “We’re assessing monies, and we need to prove that we should exist.”
The new proposal is to expand the district, which now includes Main Street, Broad Street and some side streets, she said.
“We think that it would be better for Souderton to make the entire Souderton Borough the BID. Our reason for that is we want to market Souderton, not just Main Street and Broad Street. We think we can bring businesses in here. We think we can support the community better and so hence we want to increase the boundaries,” Zglinicki said.
The move would increase the number of properties paying into the BID, which would allow the rate being paid per property to be decreased, she said.
The business property owners in the district currently pay the BID 4.5 percent of the amount paid for school, county and borough property taxes, she said.
“We’re proposing that we bring that down to 3.95 percent,” Zglinicki said.
Harry Boardman, another of the BID representatives at the meeting, later said the current BID payment for the majority of the properties is $250 to $300 per year.
The assessment is for business properties only, not