WEIGHING OPTIONS … Matt Gilroy, executive director of the Fulton County Economic Development Corporation, discusses the finer points of the Ohio Community Reinvestment Area program with the Delta Village Council during its meeting Monday evening.
By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
The Delta Village Council tabled an item seeking to amend the boundaries of a tax abatement zone at its meeting on Monday.
According to Village Administrator Andy Glenn, the ordinance would mark the third amendment to the community reinvestment area (CRA), causing it to no longer be grandfathered under the original program rules and instead falling under the updated 1994 rules.
The ordinance would remove all residential areas as well as any undeveloped properties from the zone. Glenn said that under the pre-1994 rules, anyone in the CRA who applied for and received a tax abatement for new development or property improvements would receive a 100 percent, 10-year tax abatement. He said that type of abatement doesn’t make good economic sense.
“There was no foresight, it was just all ‘hey, let’s give them 100 percent and move on,'” Glenn said. “We’re not collecting anything. We’re not using any of these other options to put in this infrastructure, we’re just blowing it out of the general fund.”
Under the new, post-1994 rules, the owners of those properties in the zone would have to negotiate both the rate and length of the abatement with the village.
Glenn said future plans in the realm of tax incentives include a potential tax increment financing (TIF) district or districts to assist a pair of potential new residential developments on the north side of Delta – one projected to contain 25 to 30 estate-style homes on lots of 1+ acres at an average value of $500,000, and the other expected to support roughly 138 single-family homes.
In a TIF district, the village would assume the cost of infrastructure construction, then receive a portion of the property taxes collected from properties in the district for a certain amount of time in order to reimburse the village.
Because TIF districts affect the amount of any property taxes received by local schools, school board approval is required for any TIF district in which the local government intends to capture 75 percent or more of the increased tax collection for 10 years or longer.
Glenn said he would be meeting with the Pike-Delta-York Local School District Board of Education later in the week to discuss the possibility of an 80 percent (with the school only receiving 20 percent), 20-year TIF district.
Under the proposal, once the infrastructure costs were paid off, the percentages would revert to 20 percent for the village and 80 percent for the school until the TIF district expired.
The council voted to table the ordinance amending the CRA after Glenn said the next vote will be a repeat second reading even if they chose to pass it, due to the fact that he would be coming back with some significant changes at the next reading.
CHANGES TO PUBLIC COMMENT RULES
Prior to the council meeting, the rules committee met and passed new rules for public comment at village meetings.
Those wishing to comment must sign in, indicating which item on the agenda they will be speaking. No comments will be allowed on topics not on the meeting’s agenda.
In order to ask questions on a subject not already on the agenda, an individual must contact Glenn at least five days before the meeting.
If Glenn is unable to sufficiently answer the person’s question at that time, he will add the topic to the next meeting agenda so the person may address the issue there.
OTHER BUSINESS
The council passed on second reading an ordinance “amending the compensation plan structure and administration manual addressing wages and certain positions of the village.”
The council passed on second reading an ordinance “establishing positions and wages for certain employees of the village.”
The council ended regular business by going into executive session “to consider the investigation of charges or complaints against a public employee.”
The next meeting of the Delta Village Council will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, March 18.