The Bioscience District has relied on grants, donations and contributions since it began.
It could continue to work within those constraints, to a point, but the playing field has changed, said Wendell Williams, district board president.
There are now many more communities working to attract the same bioscience-related businesses.
When the Bioscience District was created it was done without taxing authority, but levying taxes was possible with voter approval - the step being taken now.
On Monday, the Bioscience District applied to the city of Temple for a petition drive, the first step in calling for a citywide election to give the district formal taxing authority.
The district shares boundaries with the city of Temple, which has $3.2 billion in total taxable values, said Traci Barnard, Temple finance director.
For every 1 cent of a tax rate, about $320,000 in tax revenue is raised, Barnard said.
The bioscience district board of directors will set the proposed tax rate after the petition is complete and approved by the city council, Williams said.
The law gives the district the ability to tax up to 15 cents per $100 valuation. However, the board will probably set the initial tax rate much lower, he said.
“We’ll look at all of the revenue aspects and expense aspects of the tax rate,” he said.
While the board will ultimately decide how the money raised from taxes will be used, it is likely some would go toward active promotion of the bioscience initiative in Temple and would require paid staff - one or two people, Williams said.
There is also the need for facility infrastructure, including a planned bioscience incubator.
The bioscience incubator is designed to provide space and support to develop ideas into a commercial reality and the Bioscience District received $341,000 in federal funds for the project.
The federal funds are for equipment, but there still needs to be a facility and someone to run it, Williams said.
“The incubator is the real key to creating new businesses,” he said. “If we’re going to move forward on these things, we’re going to need a source of funding.”
The district has 120 days to gather signatures from about 145 registered voters.
