The Program
Established during the 2006 Legislative Session, the LIFT Competitive Program allows selected local governments to take advantage of tax revenue generated by private investment in a Revenue Development Area (RDA) to make payments on bonds used to finance public infrastructure improvements.  Incremental revenue increases in the RDA and revenue from other local public sources are used to match state money and must also be used to repay the same bonds.  The state revenue earned is distributed through a local sales and use tax that is credited against the state's sales and use tax.

Awards
Nine project awards have been made under the LIFT Program to date. Three of these were legislatively selected projects: the City of Bellingham, Spokane County, and the City of Vancouver.  The cities of Bothell, Everett, and Federal Way received awards in the 2007 competitive round. In 2008, the cities of Mount Vernon, Puyallup and Yakima were selected for awards.

Program Management
CERB is responsible for approving use of the LIFT Program to both legislatively and competitively selected projects.  CERB receives management support from the Washington State Department of Commerce and collaborates with Commerce and the Department of Revenue (DOR) to meet the requirements of the program application, evaluation and reporting processes. 

• 2009 LIFT Annual Report