What are some examples of special service districts?
TL;DR: Fire departments, sanitation services, business improvement sectors, trail maintenance operations, community beautification efforts, and anything else a community wants or needs that their local or county government doesn’t already provide.
Many fire departments, sanitation services, business improvement districts, trail maintenance operations, and community beautification efforts are all funded and administered by special districts. Special districts are basically created any time a community wants a specific or has a particular need that the local or county government doesn’t provide or meet.
Beautification: The Bryant Park Corporation
One well-known special district is located in Bryant Park in New York City. In an article for New Geography, Aaron Renn explains that Bryant Park used to be called “Needle Park” because it was so overrun by drug dealers and users. Now, Bryant Park “is a lavish showplace right down to fresh cut flowers in its marble restrooms.”
The City of New York wanted to turn Bryant Park into something the entire community could enjoy, so they formed a special district called a business improvement district (BID) and created the Bryant Park Corporation, which was tasked with cleaning up and maintaining the 9.6 acre park.
The Bryant Park Corporation now boasts an annual budget of $7 million — that’s nearly $3 million more than the parks budget for the entire city of Pittsburgh. The money comes from the fees assessed via the BID, along with additional cash raised via sponsorships, events, and the commercial activity that takes place within the park.
Trail Maintenance: The Indy Cultural Trail
In order to promote and maintain the newly-created Indy Cultural Trail, the City of Indianapolis created special districts known as Cultural Districts and formed a non-profit called Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Inc. back in in 1999.
As Aaron Renn explains, the president of the Central Indiana Community Foundation, Brian Payne, came up with the idea and even “included a maintenance endowment in the original private fundraising to build it.” This ensured that the trail would remain properly cleaned and maintained, even when times (and local budgets) were tight.
In addition to the $4 million raised from 2001–2003 to pay for the initial design studies, Indianapolis Cultural Trail, Inc. raised another $15 million in private donations in 2007, and was later awarded a $20.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2010.
Security: Louisiana’s ‘security districts’
New Orleans created security districts in downtown New Orleans as a way to supplement the efforts of the New Orleans Police Department. The first security district in New Orleans dates back to 1998, when the Lake Forest Estates Improvement District was founded. Property owners that live within the geographic boundaries of the district pay an additional $100 to $440 in property taxes each year, with higher rates for some business properties in the certain districts. The money pays the salaries of the private security guards and goes toward the installation of security cameras in high-crime areas.
Residents have continued to renew the annual fee as late as 2010, and six new security districts appeared on the ballot in one neighborhood in 2008.
