By Kana Coonce

Contributing Writer

STEVENS POINT – Stevens Point’s historic downtown will be seeing some changes over the next couple of years.

With the adoption of the Downtown Business Improvement District (BID) in December, businesses located within an established radius comprising the downtown area will receive additional financial support from the city in order to promote, maintain and invest in the area.

There are roughly 60 businesses located in downtown Stevens Point.

Each of them will see the effects of the recently-implemented BID, which places an additional tax on properties within the district to be used toward services decided on by the board of directors.

“You may see some consistencies, you may see some beautification, you may see some entertainment and amenities” depending on what direction the board decides to take in the coming months, said Mayor Mike Wiza,  who served as chair of the initial BID Plan Commission and handpicked the Board of Directors (BoD).

For the first five years of the BID’s adoption, the city will provide matching funds while the BID Board of Directors establishes itself as an entity.

In 2023, to assist with BID development before the tax kicks in, the city will provide the BID with $75,000 in support.

Wiza said that it may take some time for the district to see any major changes as the BID Board of Directors — which was elected in January — figures out what is and isn’t feasible for the area.

 “We’re still in the infancy of the Business Improvement District,” said Wiza, noting that while BIDs have been successfully established in other areas, this is the city’s first time implementing one itself.

The first year will primarily be a learning experience for the city and the BoD.

 “Beginning as early as this year and moving forward, you would see some enhancements to downtown,” Wiza said, but “[the board] need[s] to set some goals first.”

Over time, Wiza hopes that the city will be able to step back and entrust the BoD with the majority of the BID’s responsibilities.

To ensure equal representation between business owners and property owners in the district, seven total members, chosen by Wiza, comprise the BID BoD: two members who own businesses within the district, two members who own property within the district, two members who own both property and businesses in the district and an alderperson.

Under state statute, a municipality may create a business improvement district as long as it meets several requirements: First, a business owner within the proposed district must petition the municipality for the district’s creation. Then, following the creation of a proposed initial operating plan for the BID, the municipality must hold a public hearing at least 30 days before the district’s creation.

‘iza said that the entire process took about five months, give or take, though the idea had been on the table for several years before a petition was formally presented to the city by the Stevens Point Alliance, an organization consisting of a number of businesses that call Stevens Point home.

By law, all BID Board of Directors meetings are open to the public.

Its next meeting will take place Tuesday, March 7, at 2:30 p.m.