Historic-preservation advocates had hoped for more to celebrate this past week.
Yes, the life of the state’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit program appeared to have been extended. But another bill, to replenish the credit fund for the first time since 2013, never made it out of committee hearings.
The tax-credit program had been set to end on June 30, but a bill approved in the House gave the program another two years. The bill then became caught up in the impasse over the fiscal 2018 budget because it is a part of the tax-and-spending package, but it is not one of the issues in dispute among House and Senate Democratic leadership.
Sen. Joshua Miller, D-Cranston, who sponsored the bill that would repeal the original program sunset, said it had received full support. “They want to leave it so the program can be funded again,” he explained.
This year wasn’t the year.
The proposed infusion of $150 million into the program, last funded under former Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee, didn’t make it out of committee, said its primary sponsor, Rep. Kenneth A. Marshall, D-Bristol.
Given budget constraints, he said, funds were not available this year. But he’s not going to give up.
“Done correctly, it’s a revenue stream and an enhancement for cities and towns,” Marshall said.
The historic-tax-credit program has the support of preservationists and related organizations, including Grow Smart Rhode Island.
Since her inaugural budget in fiscal 2016, Gov. Gina M. Raimondo has not recommended additional spending on the program. Instead, her administration created a new incentive program, Rebuild Rhode Island, that allows state funds to be used in new construction, as well as historical renovations.
Rebuild, for its part, received less funding this year in the House-amended budget, which the Senate as of July 3 had yet to pass.
Under the House substitute budget, the Rebuild program will receive $7.5 million less over its projected disbursement schedule, taken from the $20 million a year recommended by Raimondo.
In a statement issued through an R.I. Commerce Corp. spokesman, Raimondo supported continued funds for Rebuild, but did not specifically address funding of the Historic Preservation Tax Credit program.
Marshall said he’s previously spoken with Raimondo about renewing the historic-tax-credit fund, and she’d relayed a concern that businesses have told her they want new space rather than rehabilitated, older buildings.
Rebuild is set up to provide credits for either.
But in its favor, the historic-tax-credit process closely is aligned with federal historic tax credits, Marshall said. And many developers have expressed a preference for it.
“At the end of the day, it has close to three times the return on investment of the dollars that are spent,” he said.
