Marion resident Ed Christian has filed a lawsuit against Marion County Commissioners claiming the plan for building roads is unconstitutional and unreliable and that discrimination existed in the differences of the TIFs for the Phoenix Group as opposed to the agreement with Mark and Kelly Lawrence.

Marion County Prosecutor Jim Slagle expects the request for an injunction to be dismissed.

A tax increment financing plan, or TIF, is used throughout the United States for development. When certain infrastructures, in this case a connecting road between State Routes 309 and 95, are built, there is an increase in property values. Governments use those expected increases, or increments, as a means to finance building the infrastructure, accepting a debt initially with the TIF paying off the debt.

In the case of the Lawrence property, the TIF agreement calls for 75%, which means River Valley, Tri-Rivers, MARCA, ADAMH, and other organizations who would normally benefit from increased property values would still receive a portion. The 75% number was a condition of the Lawrence’s donation of land for one right of way and part of another.

The county has agreed to purchase the other part, which would include extending Legacy Drive, for $116,000.