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District avoids spending plan with the state
RESS December 7, 2015
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Miami Dolphin comes home See page 20 M
By Kelly J. Kaczala Press News Editor kkaczala@presspublications.com
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Typically, it is the time frame you allow which makes a goal unrealistic. Bryan Golden See page 11
Renovated church to open Ron Wolff applies grout to the floor at the entrance of the new St. Jerome Church, Walbridge. See story on page 3. (Press photo by Ken Grosjean)
Downtown redevelopment
Proposed bill offers incentives By Larry Limpf News Editor news@presspublications.com A bill that would authorize municipalities to create downtown re-development districts has sailed through the Ohio House of Representatives and is being watched by area officials as a possible means to retain and attract businesses. House Bill 233, which passed last month in the House by a 91-0 vote, set procedures for cities and villages to establish the re-development districts for rehabilitating historic buildings and promoting economic development. Other features of the bill now pending in the Senate Ways and Means Committee: • Authorize municipalities to exempt up to 70 percent of the real property in the districts from taxation and to collect service payments in lieu of taxes from owners. Revenues from the payments would be used for economic development purposes. • Require the areas of the districts contain at least one historic building as defined by the same criteria for state tax credits for historic building rehabilitation: the building must be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, listed as a historic landmark or located in a registered
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...we’re always interested in exploring ways to make our downtown area better...
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The Oregon City Schools board will not have to submit a spending plan to the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) now that voters passed an operations levy in the November election. District treasurer Jane Fruth would have been required to submit the plan had the levy not passed due to an expected deficit next year. “Because the levy passed, we’ll be able to resubmit our five-year forecast,” said Fruth at the last school board meeting in November. “Unfortunately, with the previous forecast, we were showing a deficit in the third year, which we were going to have to send a spending plan to ODE. This eliminates that. I just have to submit the updated five-year forecast. And that should take care of it. So we’ll be off the hook with ODE because we’re in the black again.” The 3.95-mill operations levy passed by a wide margin – 62.51 percent to 37.49 percent. It was the first time the district was able to get an operations levy passed since 2008. Last year, the district tried to get a 5.9-mill levy passed, but voters defeated the measure. Voters last month were faced with cuts in extracurricular activities and the transfer of vocational schooling from the district to Penta County Vocational School if the levy didn’t pass. In addition to monies from the levy, the district is expecting funds from the Oregon Clean Energy natural gas project, said Fruth. “We cannot put it in the forecast yet because the timing is wrong. But it is something we are looking towards benefiting the schools,” said Fruth. She also noted that the five year forecast is a “moving target” because the Legislature has made some additional adjustments to the tangible personal property tax receipts, as it has in the past. “It’s a modest impact at this point. There will be some additional changes in the five-year forecast,” she said. Senate Bill 208 restores 96 percent of the tangible personal property tax reimbursements taken out of the 2017 state budget and adjusts the phase-out process.
historic district and certified by the state historic preservation officer. • Authorize designating an “innovation district” within a new or existing district if it includes an area equipped with a high-speed broadband network capable of download speeds of at least 100 gigabits per second. • Restrict the length of the district tax exemptions to 10 years. Longer exemptions are allowed if affected school districts are reimbursed. “I am currently reading and researching the impact to the Village of Walbridge of this bill. I am hopeful there are parts of this bill that will benefit small communities such as Walbridge,” Mayor Ed Kolanko said. “With the recent and
continued decrease in state revenue assistance to smaller communities and schools, the importance of attracting and retaining local business is crucial to the financial well-being of our communities.” Representative Tim Brown, R-Bowling Green and a co-sponsor of the bill, said procedures for the districts are similar to those that apply to tax increment financing districts under current law. Public hearings are required by the bill, he said, and municipal legislative bodies would need to approve the districts by passing an ordinance. Gibsonburg Village Administrator Marc Glotzbecker said village officials would weigh the program’s financial implications before proceeding too far. “I believe that we’re always interested in exploring ways to make our downtown area better, so definitely we’d be interested in learning more,” he said. “However, the one thing that we always have to keep first and foremost is any financial impact or burden on our business owners and residents.” In Oak Harbor, the village administration plans to continue to focus on establishing a Community Reinvestment Area designation to promote economic develContinued on page 2
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