Belleville City Council appears poised to create a new downtown taxing district that would require owners of 376 parcels to pay more property taxes to help fund downtown improvement projects, which could include a four-level parking garage.
The taxing district, officially known as Special Service Area 4, would replace another district that was in place for 19 years before being terminated last year, when the city paid off bonds tied to it.
“(Special Service Area 3 bonds were) used primarily to assist with the downtown streetscape improvements and some other improvements,” Eric Schauster, the city’s director of grants and special projects, told aldermen at a public hearing in November…