One of the strategies used to generate revenue to implement recommended public projects was the creation of a Municipal Service District (MSD). In the late 1970’s, properties owners in a four-core block bounded by Craven, Broad, Hancock and South Front Street, agreed to pay an additional property tax each year to fund construction of Bear Plaza, a mid-block pedestrian park, on a vacant lot on Middle Street on the site of a department store that burned in the 1970’s. The mid-block park would allow convenient access (walkability) to the street from the new Federal Alley interior parking and service area.
The MSD tax generated $250,000 ($.50 per $100 of assessed value) annually from 1981 to 1983. When the two projects were completed, the rate was reduced to $.25. In 1985, as a means to increase revenue to fund on-going public projects, Swiss Bear and the Downtown Merchant Association solicited property owner’s support to expand the special tax district to take in the entire central business district. In June 1986, the Board of Aldermen approved the MSD expansion to encompass the area bounded by property on north of Broad Street, west side of Hancock Street to the edge of the Neuse and Trent Rivers and reduced the tax rate to $.18 per $100 of assessed value. The current rate is $.12.
Since 1980, MSD tax dollars funded numerous public projects including major streetscape improvements throughout the downtown, four parking lots, and the mid-block pedestrian park, James Reed Lane.
The creation of the MSD is just one of many strategies used to revitalize downtown and attract investment and a great example of how the property owners worked together to help make downtown New Bern a Main Street success story.
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Bear Plaza - Before
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Bear Plaza Today
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Susan Moffat Thomas
Executive Director
