ThisWeek CW 05/03/2012
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2012/05/02/tirc-review-reveals-small-employment-increase.html
The annual review of Canal Winchester’s tax increment financing (TIF) and community reinvestment area (CRA) agreements showed that all who received the tax deals are in compliance with the abatement terms.
It also showed a slight increase in employment in the city, Canal Winchester Development Director Lucas Haire said.
The city’s Tax Incentive Review Council (TIRC) met April 26 to complete a review of the city’s CRA and TIF abatement agreements.
The annual review is required by law.
Haire said a 100-percent tax abatement is offered for both residential and commercial reinvestment on the increased value of a rehabilitated or newly built property in the CRA. The TIF agreements funnel property taxes into specific infrastructure improvement projects related to an investment; this lowers the initial investment cost for the developer.
“Overall, there is a small amount of growth. It varies from company to company,” Haire said. “All of our abatements were established before 1994, when the law changed, so we don’t have job requirements in the agreements, but we do request the number of employees at each site when we review them.”
There are 32 different properties in the city’s property tax abatement areas, Haire said.
“We also have a number of TIF properties, mostly around the Meijer and Diley Ridge Medical Center that we review at the same time,” he added.
The city’s CRA areas include industrial sites along Gender Road, the downtown district and Canal Pointe Industrial Park.
On March 27, city officials completed a tour of facilities and companies that made investments as a part of the CRA agreements to verify compliance, Haire said.
“In terms of compliance, we found all of the agreements should be continued and continue to be in compliance,” he said.
The current agreements require a minimum of $25,000 investment, which may provide a five-year tax abatement for residential rehabilitation of historic homes, a 10-year abatement for rehabilitation of commercial properties and a 15-year abatement on new commercial development in the CRA.
“We have a number of residential properties in the downtown area and we want to encourage the rehabbing of the older homes in the downtown area, with a minimum requirement of a $25,000 investment,” Haire said. “There are still a number of undeveloped commercial properties that this agreement would cover, so there’s no talk of amending the size of this district at this time.”
He said he and other city officials are working with a certification contractor to certify sites in the CRA as “shovel-ready” in order to help Canal Winchester attract new investment.
“We’re still working through assembling all the information for the site certification. This tax abatement is a big factor in that because it is an incentive that helps make us a competitive site,” Haire said. “A lot of cities offer a similar program, so this community redevelopment area definitely plays into that.”