There's been a lot of talk lately about the North Brevard Economic Zone, and I thought I'd help clear up some of the confusion that's been going around.  There's a bit of an alphabet soup trying to figure out what's what, so for starters, a CRA is a "Community Redevelopment Agency", referring also to the Act itself that was passed in 2004 by the Florida legislature.  The NBEZ is the North Brevard Economic Zone, and some of the more than a dozen of the same kind set up here in Brevard are called "Economic Development Zones" or EDZ's on occasion.

Now, how do they work?  It's pretty simple, really!  Property is taxed right now based on its value.  The tax goes to the County to fund essential services that we all rely on, like the Sheriff Deputies and Fire Rescue.  CRAs are funded with the tax revenue difference between what the property is - and what it improves to.  The difference is called the increment, and it goes directly towards funding improvements in the zone it is collected from to improve curb appeal, repave and beautify roads and sidewalks and generally make the area much nicer for people to live, work and do business in.  Doing things like that generally increases the value of the property in the area as the community springs back to life, and the CRA continues to reinvest that new money right back into making even more improvements.

Here's an example:

• You buy a house in West Palmbourne (a fictional city in Brevard) and you pay $100k for it.
• Let's say for sake of example that your county taxes are an even $1,000 a year.  $1,000 in taxes paid to Brevard County each year for services.
• With the economic downturn, West Palmbourne gets a CRA because there are some bad spots in town.  The CRA starts up and manages to bring in Widgets, Inc. - a big company that is going to build a big customer service center and hire a whole bunch of people.
• Widgets, Inc. buys vacant land and builds on it to improve it.  Some of that brand new tax revenue goes to the CRA which then puts in a small green space at the end of your street, repaints the curbs, puts up new road signs and even fixes that nasty pothole you keep hitting when you back out of your driveway.
• Those improvements combined with the added jobs and upturn in the local economy, lead to an increase in the value of your home and your neighbors. Your house is now worth $130k!
• Because your property is worth more and you are a little bit richer because you can sell it for a tidy profit, or rent it for higher than what you pay for the mortgage, your tax bill will probably go up and you'll pay $1,400 in taxes yearly.
• Here's where the CRA comes in!  $380 bucks of that new revenue goes right back to the West Palmbourne CRA, to make more improvements putting in street lights, clearing brownfields, restoring historical downtown areas and hopefully making things flourish even more in your community.
• Brevard County still gets the $1,000 you were paying in property taxes just like before, so residents in Satelliantic Beach aren't footing the bill for you or the other folks in West Palmbourne.  Plus, because the CRA gets only 95% of the difference in the increase (called the increment) the tax that goes to the county is actually $1,020.

It's as simple as that!  CRA's are a great thing, because the money they generate goes right back into improving the economic health of the region.  It's like having your interest work for you in your bank account, and the effect is cumulative.  CRA's serve as an economic engine to drive an increase in business, jobs, tourism, and property value - and do it in a way that is self-sustaining.  Brevard County has 19 community redevelopment districts, and there are a huge number of them across Florida now because they are immensely popular for how well they actually work.  But you don't have to take my word for it - take a look at the resurgence of Downtown Cocoa and the resurrection of businesses there.  Or, take a drive down Barton Boulevard in Rockledge and check out the fantastic new growth and revitalization of that area.  CRA's are a really smart idea, and one that Brevard can't really afford not to take advantage of.

On the Subject of Commissioner Infantini's Emails:
As an aside, there's an email going around out there from Commissioner Infantini that purports that the North Brevard Economic Zone is going to divert tax dollars from the county general fund, which it won't.  The email says that $150 million of taxpayer money will be diverted from county general funds to individual business owners in the NBEZ.  Well, no.  The funds go to making improvements to blighted areas - not as cash payouts to business owners.  That's not rocket science, it's Chapter 163 of the Florida Statutes.  The $150 million dollars is a number Commissioner Infantini gets by taking the new revenue created by FPL building their new $1.1 billion dollar Clean Energy plant in North Brevard and multiplying that by 30 years.

FPL is probably not going to build, bulldoze and rebuild the same plant each year for 30 years, or build 30 separate $1.1 billion dollar power plants.  A grand total of $38.6 million has been generated for *all* CRA's in Brevard over the course of the past 10 years, so the $150 million figure from Commissioner Infantini is wild. The county currently projects $2.9 million over a 5-year period for the NBEZ.  That's $17.4 million over 30 years.  I respect my opponent Commissioner Infantini tremendously, but I couldn't disagree with her more on this issue, or her math.