Amazon TIF district aims to spur more economic development in north Shreveport

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) — District 3 Caddo Commissioner Steven Jackson is proposing an Amazon Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district along North Market Street in north Shreveport.

While it was listed on the consent agenda for the Caddo Commission’s work session Monday, Jackson said the item will likely keep popping up on future agendas until everything is finalized.

“We want to attract more distribution in the area. We want to attract more retail in the area. We want the area to have more curb appeal,” Jackson told KSLA News 12 in September, when he first proposed the district.

The parish would need to establish a baseline. Anything above that baseline could be used toward the district, including road repairs, recruitment efforts to the area and more.

“It is basically diverting a portion of the revenues collected from property taxes out of a local government’s budget toward a particular project,” said Priyanka Chakraborty, Ph.D., an economics professor at Centenary College in Shreveport

Jackson, the Caddo commissioner, emphasized that this TIF would not increase taxes.

“You’re putting out a bucket of water, expecting it to rain; and once it rains, everyone’s grass will continue to be watered,” he explained, using an analogy. “But you will have a reserve that can go back into the district.”

He said he was gotten support from Shreveport Councilwoman Tabatha Taylor as well as Caddo School Board member Dr. Terence Vinson. Approval from the city is required to create a TIF district, according to state law.

Jackson said the council members are expected to discuss the TIF during their meeting Nov. 9.

If all the moving parts play out in favor of the TIF, he said he hopes to have a final adoption of the proposal by the end of the month.

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