
BUILDING THE RANKS Fire Chief Cuyler Kepling addresses the Swanton Village Council Monday evening During his comments Kepling announced the upcoming posting of an opening for deputy fire chief
By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
Finance Director Holden Benfield explained the very basics of community reinvestment areas and tax increment financing districts during Monday’s Swanton Village Council meeting.
CRAs and TIFs have been a topic of contention in Delta, and Fulton County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Matt Gilroy has spoken there and elsewhere on the subject in recent days.
During the meeting, Benfield made some brief comments while largely referring to a written description of the programs he had prepared.
“Community Reinvestment Areas (CRAs) are a broad area-covering program that is used to offer incentives for landowners to invest in their properties,” Benfield wrote.
“The CRA provides up to 100% ‘Real’ Property tax exemption on improvements made under it on land and property within the area of effect.”
“The municipality continues to collect on additional Personal Property, Inventory, and Income taxes relevant to the improvements that are made.”
In a CRA, the local school district must give approval for any exemptions of more than 50 percent, and is reimbursed by the municipality for “lost income resultant to the improvements out of the additional income received from the increase in Personal, Inventory, and Income taxes.”
Tax Increment Financing (TIFs) allow an increase in the value of real property (things that cannot be removed from the property, like permanent structures) without collecting any taxes on the additional value, he wrote.
“Instead, the property owner(s) make ‘Payments-In-Lieu-of-Taxes’ also referred to as ‘P.I.L.O.Ts’. These payments are given to the local government and school district, and the municipality maintains these payments in a ‘TIF Fund’.”
“These TIF Funds can be used for infrastructure projects as defined by the TIF Legislation (Established when the TIF is created) that benefit both the municipality and the business issuing the PILOTs.”
TIFs may not last longer than 30 years, but can utilize exemptions of any size, up to 100 percent. Like CRAs, TIFs also require school district approval at a certain level, but in a TIF it is only if it exceeds 10 years in duration or a tax exemption of more than 75 percent.
Benfield said it was good for the council members to know what options they had available to them but that there were currently no village plans to use either program.
His short overview came at the request of Mayor Neil Toeppe, who also asked him to create an instructional piece on CRAs and TIFs for municipalities.
UPDATE ON SHOOTING INCIDENT
Police Chief John Trejo reported that on April 15, he testified in the grand jury hearing on 33-year-old Edward Polansky regarding his involvement in an incident last month when he allegedly showed up in a vehicle downtown, injured, along with John Wolf, who was pronounced dead at the scene due to multiple gunshot wounds. A second passenger was detained.
Indictments of Polansky have since been returned for murder, involuntary manslaughter, two counts of having a weapon under disability, aggravated possession of drugs, possession of cocaine, possession of a fentanyl-related compound.
In Ohio, a person is considered under a disability and barred from possessing a firearm if they are a fugitive from justice, if they have been indicted or convicted of a violent felony or some felony drug offenses, if they are addicted to drugs or alcohol, or if they are mentally incompetent.
“On other aspects that investigation is still ongoing, so we’re still working on those things,” Trejo said.
“As far as we can tell right now, I will say that the actual incident itself did happen in the county but we’re running with it since we took the lead on it and they ended up in our village.”
Trejo said someone from the department would be continuing to attend the hearings. “[It] sounds like a pretty big event that took place and a lot of moving parts to it so we’re just trying to account for everything,” he said.
NEW DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF POSITION
The Swanton Fire and Rescue Division will soon be accepting applications for a deputy chief according to Fire Chief Cuyler Kepling.
“They’ll help with the operations side, fire prevention, inspections, some of the daily operations of Fire/EMS. Help try get a little off my plate and some of the shift officers’ plates to allow them to work more with their crews and then allow me to focus on some more of the administrative stuff that I’m currently having to pull away from to try to help the shift officers from overbearing them with tasks.”
Kepling assured council members that he had already spoken with Benfield and confirmed that funding for the position had already been factored in the budget.
He also pointed out that the department was ahead of his estimates for where he expected them to be with regard to the budget, further easing the filling of the position.
A job description has already been prepared, and the position will be posted after clearance is obtained from Mayor Toeppe.
“We’ll open it up for applications and then we’ll go through an assessment center. We’ll have three or four different scenarios, some leadership stuff, some management stuff, and then go to interviews in front of three, four fire chiefs and then they’ll make the recommendation based on the assessment center,” Kepling said.
NEW FIRE ENGINE
After previously voting to purchase a new, $1.45 million fire engine from The Sutphen Corporation of Amlin, Ohio, the council voted to authorize Kepling to enter into an agreement with Lease 2, Inc.
Lease 2 will be purchasing the truck on the village’s behalf and through whom the village will finance the vehicle.
By having Lease 2 purchase the truck outright, the village is able to get a “cash discount” of nearly $100,000 and then finance it back from them, retaining ownership.
OUTDOOR ALCOHOL DOWNTOWN
The council voted on first reading to expand the village’s designated outdoor refreshment area (DORA).
“Within the boundaries of the DORA, patrons can purchase an open beverage containing alcohol from an on-premises liquor permit holder, such as a bar or a restaurant, and leave the premises with the drink and continue consuming it,” according to the Ohio Department of Commerce web page on DORAs.
According to the ordinance, the proposed DORA boundary would run along North Main Street from 123 N. Main Street south to the railroad tracks, east along Zeiter Way to Lincoln Avenue, north to the alley behind 105 Lincoln Avenue, west to its junction with the main alley, north to the parking lot adjacent to 128 N. Main Street, west to North Main Street.
The ordinance also includes authorized hours for DORA beverages as 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, with all DORA beverages to be consumed no later than midnight.
The hours may be altered or suspended outright during special events or due to other extenuating circumstances. The ordinance will receive two more readings before the council prior to final passage.
OTHER BUSINESS
The council approved the hiring of student intern Anevay Emerson as a part-time firefighter subject to pre-employment testing following her upcoming high school graduation.
The council approved the reclassification of firefighter/EMT Colin Fessenden from full-time to part-time effective May 24.
Kepling reported the fire department responded to a high number of calls in March, 116 out of a total 324 in the first quarter. He also reported that it was determined a generator which failed to start during a recent power outage can be repaired.
The next regular meeting of the Swanton Village Council will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 13 at 219 Chestnut Street.