Business improvement district

A business improvement district (BID) is a defined area within which businesses elect to pay an additional fee (or assessment) in order to fund projects within the district's boundaries. A BID is not a tax, as taxes fund the government. BID funds are collected and used for the exclusive benefit of the industry that pays the assessment.

The BID is often funded primarily through the assessment but can also draw on other public and private funding streams. BIDs may go by other names, such as business improvement area (BIA), business revitalization zone (BRZ), business improvement zone (BIZ), community improvement district (CID), special services area (SSA), or special improvement district (SID). These districts typically fund services which are defined by the industry collecting the assessment, and may include work perceived by some businesses as being inadequately performed by government with its existing tax revenues, such as cleaning streets, providing security, making capital improvements, construction of pedestrian and streetscape enhancements, and marketing the area. The services provided by BIDs are supplemental to those already provided by the municipality.^[1] The revenue derives from an assessment voted on by commercial property owners, industry members (BIDs can be formed around industries, not just physical properties), and in some cases, residential property owners.