Business improvement district
Encyclopedia : B : BU : BUS : Business improvement district
A business improvement district (BID) (also known as a special improvement district, a business improvement area, or a business revitalization zone) is a public/private sector partnership in which property and business owners of a defined area elect to make a collective contribution to the maintenance, development and marketing/promotion of their commercial district. It is, in some ways, similar to a residential community association, but an appropriate analogy would be that of a suburban shopping mall, from which the idea for BIDs is, itself, modelled. Malls are generally single properties managed by one entity that rents out retail spaces to various tenants. Tenants pay a common maintenance fee to pay for services that enhance the appearance of the mall's common areas and provide cooperative advertising for the mall and its various stores. BIDs operate in much the same way.
BIDs are grassroots organizations, that are driven by community support and require legislative authorization by the municipality in which it resides, in order to be established.
BIDs typically provide services such as street and sidewalk maintenance, public safety officers, park and open space maintenance, marketing, capital improvements, and various development projects. The services provided by BIDs are a supplement to the services already provided by the municipality.
BIDs are funded through special assessments collected from the property owners in the defined boundaries of the district. The assessment is levied on the property owners who can, if the property lease allows, pass it on to their tenants. In New York City, the operating budgets of BIDs range from $53,000 to over $11 million. Typically, an individual property owner will pay an assessment of approximately 6% of his/her annual real estate tax charge.
BIDs are overseen by a Board of Directors that is elected by the members of the district.
There are 53 BIDs in New York State, of which 45 are in New York City. Toronto has 47 BIAs within its borders. In the province of Alberta, they are termed "business revitalization zones". There are 9 zones in the City of Calgary and 10 in Edmonton. The first special improvement district in New Jersey was formed in Cranford, New Jersey.
England and Wales
In England and Wales, business improvement districts were introduced into law with the Local Government Act 2003, after a number of trials, and also an attempt in 1998 to get a Private Member's Bill passed.
This allows districts to be erected, and then a levy introduced on non-domestic rates, with the agreement (by ballot) of the ratepayers liable, in order to pay for improvements in the area. The first BID to be created under this process was Kingston upon Thames.
External links
- [Why Business Improvement Districts Work] - article by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research (May 1996)
- [Business Improvement Districts: A practical tool for the revitalization of downtown neighborhoods] - website for a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill urban planning course
- [Business Improvement Districts] - a project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- *[BID Web Sites]
- [Managing the Micropolis: Proposals to Strengthen BID Performance and Accountability] - a 1997 report on the lack of accountability in some BIDs and recommendations for reform
- [Business Improvement Districts and Innovative Service Delivery] - a comprehensive examination of BIDs
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