Augusta commissioners are moving ahead with plans to redevelop four areas of Augusta by creating special tax districts that would attract business investors with lower assessments.

The first proposed Tax Allocation District originally included downtown Augusta, the Laney-Walker area, part of the Bethlehem neighborhood, and the Harrisburg area to Eve Street and the medical complex in the 15th Street area.

The district's boundaries were expanded at the request of Mayor Pro Tem Betty Beard to include all of Bethlehem and areas along Sandbar Ferry Road around Underwood Homes and Marion Homes.

Mrs. Beard said the area is beautiful and that once the housing complexes are torn down, developers will be eager to invest to receive the incentives the district would create.

The second proposed district originally included the area around Regency Mall, Gordon Highway from Highland Avenue to Tubman Home Road and Deans Bridge Road from Wheeless Road to Cherry Street. It was expanded to go to Interstate 520 at Deans Bridge Road, at the recommendation of Commissioner Don Grantham.

The third district includes the Village at Riverwatch property, the Interstate 20 interchange at River Watch Parkway, northwest quadrant, and the Pilot Travel Center. The fourth proposed district would start at the Hephzibah city limits and include Diamond Lakes Park, the Tobacco Road intersection and east of Windsor Spring Road to Fort Gordon.

The full commission must approve the districts, and if that happens this year, the tax base in those areas would be frozen. Any increased income in that district from higher taxes or new development could be put into a special fund and used to reimburse a developer upfront or on a pay-as-you-go basis for permitted expenditures, according to the city's consultant, Steven J. Labovitz, of McKenna Long & Aldridge attorneys.

Permitted redevelopment expenses include infrastructure, transportation costs, demolition, landscaping, water and sewer and parking facilities.

"What a TAD does is it allows us to use the difference between a baseline tax revenue and what's collected to develop these areas to grow these communities in the way of retail and also in residential," Commissioner Jerry Brigham said. "The increment in the difference between the baseline tax and the revenue that's raised will go to offset the infrastructure that the developer is normally charged with putting in." The improvements would likely be paid for by issuing bonds, he said.

"And I think it would be advantageous for the developer to look at these properties and come and improve the community," Mr. Brigham said.

The maximum assessed value of land that can be in a TAD is $310.8 million. School boards are not allowed to participate in the districts, but a constitutional amendment on the ballot this November could change that, Mr. Labovitz said.