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IFA > Indiana Brownfields > Financial Assistance Financial Assistance

View a summary of all of the financial incentives ofered by the Indiana Brownfields Program.  Indiana Brownfields ProgramThe Indiana Brownfields Program offers financial assistance primarily to qualifying political subdivisions (as defined by Indiana Code 13-11-2-164(c)) in Indiana to assess, demolish and remediate brownfield sites. For guidance on qualifying as a political subdivision for Indiana Brownfields Program financial assistance, click here. The Indiana Brownfields Program works in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and provides support letters for applicants for U.S. EPA financial assistance and coordinates petroleum site eligibility determinations. 

To access a prior application submitted online for financial assistance previously offered by the Indiana Brownfields Program, click here.

View a summary of all of the financial incentives offered by the Indiana Brownfields Program.

For more information about the Indiana Brownfields Program's financial assistance, please contact Sara Westrick Corbin, Financial Resources Coordinator, at (317) 234-1688 or swestrick@ifa.in.gov.

For more information about U.S. EPA funding, please contact Michele Oertel, Federal Funding & Community Relations Coordinator, at (317) 234-0235 or moertel@ifa.in.gov.

The following incentives are awarded as funding to reimburse actual expenses of recipient:

Revolving Loan Fund

The purpose of the Indiana Brownfields Program's Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Incentive is to facilitate the redevelopment of brownfield sites by making low-cost funding available through low-to-zero interest loans to finance environmental cleanups and facilitate the public or private redevelopment of brownfield sites throughout the state. The current balance of RLF loan funding is approximately $1.6 million.  

Supplemental Environmental Projects

The Indiana Brownfields Program has collaborated with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to offer political subdivisions in Indiana access to Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) funds for brownfields redevelopment activities. SEPs are used by IDEM as a tool to settle enforcement cases. When IDEM agrees to allow a respondent to settle a case with a brownfield SEP, an agreed-upon amount from a civil penalty owed to IDEM is paid directly by the respondent to the IFA for use on a brownfield project. Examples of eligible uses of brownfield SEP funds include the following: Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments, remediation and demolition activities, habitat restoration, and site acquisition. In order to administer this form of financial assistance, Program staff have developed guidelines for those communities that are the beneficiaries of a brownfield SEP to explain the eligible uses of the funding, administrative procedures for accepting and utilizing the funding, etc. Unlike other financial incentives received through the Indiana Brownfields Program, these are not funds for which an entity can apply; they result only from a negotiated settlement from IDEM's Office of Enforcement. The information below is, therefore, provided for those communities that are the beneficiary of a settlement involving a brownfield SEP or those respondents involved in negotiating a settlement with IDEM's Office of Enforcement that may be interested in proposing a brownfield SEP as part of a settlement. Questions regarding brownfield SEPs can be directed to Andrea Robertson, Senior Environmental Manager, at (317) 234-0968.

The following incentives are awarded as services provided by consultants retained by the IFA:

Automotive Sector Brownfields Assessment Initiative

The Automotive Sector Brownfields Assessment Initiative provides site assessments and related activities to help Indiana communities facilitate the redevelopment of permanently idled or closed auto dealerships and parts/supplier, assembly and manufacturing plants that has been hindered by actual or potential environmental contamination.

February 2010--U.S. EPA Discussion Forum - Auto Sector Cleanups - Visit the forum to read and post comments.

Archived TPI Information

 

IFA may provide site determinations to assist with the following tax incentives available for redeveloping brownfields:

Federal Tax Incentive – site eligibility determinations (qualified contaminated sites)

Originally signed into law in 1997 and extended through December 31, 2011 (further extension to be determined), the Brownfields Tax Incentive encouraged the cleanup and reuse of brownfields. Under the Brownfields Tax Incentive, environmental cleanup costs are fully deductible in the year incurred, rather than capitalized and spread over time. Improvements in 2006 expanded the tax incentive to include petroleum cleanup.
• Allows environmental cleanup costs at eligible properties to be fully deductible in the year incurred, rather than capitalized and spread over a period of years.  Note that taxpayers can retroactively file and amend prior tax returns. 
• Types of properties eligible for the incentive includes those contaminated or potentially contaminated with petroleum products or hazardous materials.
• Previously filed tax returns could be amended to include deductions for past cleanup expenditures.
• For more details or information about this incentive, visit http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/tax/index.htm and Brownfield Tax Incentive Memo.

Brownfields Tax Incentive Fact Sheet (PDF)-2010


 Tax Waiver – brownfield determinations

The Department of Local Government Finance may cancel any property taxes assessed against real property owned by a county, township, city, town or the state in a petition requesting that the department cancel the taxes is submitted by the auditor, assessor and treasurer of the county in which the real property is located (IC 6-1.1-36.7). This provision applies to any property, regardless of whether it is a brownfield site. However, there is a specific statutory provision dealing with the waiver or reduction of delinquent taxes on a brownfield property that applies to property owners as well. See IC 6-1.1-45.5. The brownfield tax reduction or waiver statute outlines a similar process for a person that owns or desires to own a brownfield to file a petition with the county auditor seeking a reduction or waiver of the delinquent tax liability.

As a part of the petition that is filed, the petitioner must seek a statement from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) that the property is a brownfield. Submittal of the tax reduction waiver form to the Indiana Brownfields Program will enable IDEM to make such a determination. In order to be eligible for reduction or waiver of taxes, the petitioner may not have contributed, or had an ownership interest in any entity that contributed, to the contamination of the property. For additional information about the state brownfield tax reduction waiver, please read the tax reduction waiver fact sheet.