AUBURN — A city tax incentive will help Bedard Pharmacy pay its mortgage, councilors agreed Tuesday night.

City councilors approved a six-year tax increment finance package to help the company move its home office to the old Gooseberry Barn site on Minot Avenue.

The finance district that would return $202,240.91 of the projected $505,602 in property taxes the pharmacy would pay through 2017.

"Every TIF district is a little bit different," City Manager Glenn Aho told councilors Tuesday night. "But (Economic Development Director) Roland Miller always writes and negotiates the details of each so that the city always benefits."

The city took over the 3.8 acre lot in 2007, paying $625,000. Councilors approved the sale of it Aug. 16 for $468,000. The company plans to relocate its corporate headquarters to Auburn, adding a small retail pharmacy store on the first floor and an area to customize prosthetics and medical equipment.

Miller said he hopes to finalize a sales agreement with Bedard on Wednesday but did not know when the deal would close.

"That's up to the banks now," Miller said. He said he expects the deal to close and the company to begin working on the site this year, finishing and moving in by spring 2011.

The plan preserves trees and landscaping along Fairview Avenue, bringing all traffic onto the site from Minot Avenue. Plans no longer include a shared driveway with neighboring Fairview Elementary.

According to the TIF agreement, the pharmacy would continue to pay all property taxes on the $468,000 base value for the life of the agreement.

The company estimates the new buildings, parking lots and site improvements will add $4 million in value. Under the agreement, 40 percent of that new value would be returned to Bedard — between $32,000 and $35,000 each year.

The agreement leaves room for the company to add second and third phases. The second phase would include a separate retail space. The third would add 16,000 square feet to the first building. Building all of the phases would add $8 million in new value to the site, increasing total property taxes to $849,000 through 2017.

staylor@sunjournal.com