LeROY -- The City Council has started work on a new tax increment financing district.

The proposed district would encompass two blocks on both sides of Ill. Route 150, west of Cherry Street, to Hemlock Street, and includes the public works facility, rock/storage facility, water treatment plant, Gaultney Park and the post office and Jones Oil property.

An outside firm will outline how the third TIF district would begin. City Administrator Jeff Clawson said the firm will need to explain the TIF boundaries and purpose to Empire Township, park district, fire district and school district.

State law requires a TIF area to be "blighted," which Clawson defined as an area where the assessed valuation has not grown.

The life of the TIF would be 23 years. In a TIF, property taxes are frozen with the difference used to enhance the area within the district.