TIFs turn the corner
City begins to make money on taxing districts
By RYAN
HORNS
Sometime "in the future," Marysville TIFs were expected to
start
bringing more money into the city coffers - and that future has
finally arrived.
"This is the first year we have received revenue from the
TIFs," City
Finance Director John Morehart said.
He said Marysville earned
about $525,000 in new money from existing TIF
property appreciation. However,
he said the figures came in under
previous hopes. The poor housing market
negatively affected the TIF funds.
Tax Increment Financing, also known as
a TIF, was enacted locally by
Marysville Mayor Tom Kruse and City Council in
2004 and 2005. The TIF is
a device many city governments across the nation
have used in order to
redirect property taxes for better use in city
development and growth.
Morehart said the idea was to improve infrastructure
and prepare land
for development, which in turn can attract new business and
lead to
property tax appreciation. The Union County auditor establishes a
base
value on property and as the value appreciates with more retail
and
commercial development coming in, the real property tax excess goes
into a TIF fund.
In the case of Coleman's Crossing, Morehart said, roads
were paved and
street lighting went up. It then directly prepared the space
for
businesses such as the Ohio National Guard Armory, Home Depot and
Best
Buy coming to town.
Morehart said the TIF money generated could then
be used to pay off the
debt the city took on after paying for the
infrastructure improvements.
Another feature of the TIFs is that a portion of
the fund will also
benefit the Marysville school district.
About $193,000
of the $525,000 earned from the TIFs, Morehart said, was
distributed to the
Marysville School District per a compensation
agreement with the
city.
Morehart said the division of the Commercial TIF funds is based on
a
fluctuating mathematical formula between the city and the schools.
He
explained that there are two existing Commercial TIFs in
Marysville:
Coleman's Crossing and City Gate.
The more controversial
Residential TIFs, he said, currently include
several developments: Woods at
Mill Valley, Walker Meadows, Adena
Pointe, Scott Farms, Keystone Crossing,
The Links (scheduled for
construction in the fall), and Chestnut Park (which
may or may not being
constructed at all.)
Three others have not begun
construction, Morehart said.
He added that another benefit of the TIFs was to
provide a way to offset
a possible sewer tax rate increase the city needed in
2004.
Morehart said that although the city made roughly a half million
dollars
from TIFs, it was not what local officials hoped. Potential revenue
from
residential TIFs was hit hard by the faltering housing market over
the
past couple years.
"The housing market in 2004 was still pretty good,"
he said. "Now, the
housing market is very depressed."
Fortunately,
Morehart said, the Commercial TIF revenue was not affected
by the housing
market.
Whether or not the city creates any more TIFs in the future, he said,
is
up to new Mayor Chris Schmenk and Marysville City Council. He does
not
see the city creating any more Residential TIFs until the housing
market
improves, which may not happen for another several years.
"After
that we probably will see more revenue," Morehart said.
Marysville School
Board offers buyouts
By KARLYN BYERS
Non-teaching employees in the
Marysville School District will have the
option of participating in a
retirement buyout, thanks to a resolution
passed by school board members
Monday night.
Board members Jeff Mabee, Roy Fraker, Scott Johnson and John
Freudenberg
unanimously passed the resolution at the end of the board's
annual
organization meeting. Moments before, they also passed a
resolution
authorizing superintendent Larry Zimmerman to notify
potentially
affected bus drivers of a reduction in that workforce.
Both
measures are a continuation of the board's response to the Nov. 6
defeat of a
4.75-mill, five-year operating levy. Other cost savings
measures and
reductions include increasing student pay-to-participate
fees, implementing
student travel fees, increasing school lunch prices
as well as eliminating
in-school suspension positions and athlete drug
testing and eliminating
resource officers at the middle school.
At their Dec. 18 meeting, board
members expanded the radius in which
pupils are transported from one mile to
two. That measure will impact
approximately 800 pupils and mean fewer buses
will be on the road; thus,
fewer employees will be needed.
Zimmerman said
Monday night was "the very first time we are offering a
retirement
option."
The school district has always needed additional personnel, he said,
and
has never needed to reduce its workforce.
"We operate in a very lean
fashion, and it's going to get leaner,"
Zimmerman said.
On the March 4
primary ballot, the school district is seeking voter
renewal of a five-year,
5-mill operating levy which expires in 2008 and
a new 4.75-mill, five-year
operating levy.
In other action, board members elected Mabee as president and
Fraker as
vice president. This is a reversal of the 2007 organization meeting
when
Fraker was re-elected president and Mabee was voted vice
president.
New board member Freudenberg and Fraker were sworn in by
treasurer
Delores "Dee" Cramer. Freudenberg was elected to his first term
in
November, while Fraker has been a board member seven years, according
to
a district official.
Freudenberg will serve as Ohio School Boards
Association (OSBA) liaison
and on the business advisory council and tax
abatement committee. Fraker
will serve on the superintendent's advisory
council,
athletic/extra-curricular council and on the finance/audit
committee.
Other committee assignments include: OSBA legislative
liaison,
finance/audit committee, tax abatement committee, Tom Brower;
Ohio
Hi-Point Career Center representative, acting secretary in
the
treasurer's absence and technology committee, Johnson; president
pro
tempore at organization meeting, negotiations committee,
facilities
planning committee and district goal review committee,
Mabee.
In other business, the board:
.Set board compensation at $125 per
meeting for a maximum of 12 meetings per year.
.Established the fourth
Monday of each month at 7 p.m. as the date for
regular meetings in 2008. All
meetings will be held at the board room of
the administration building at
1000 Edgewood Drive unless otherwise
changed by the board.
.Approved the
assigning of a designee to the position of acting
superintendent when
Zimmerman is out of the district.
.Established a board service fund of $7,500
for member expenses. In
previous years, that amount has been "more than
adequate," according to Fraker.
.Designated the "Marysville
Journal-Tribune" as the official newspaper
for notification of board
meetings.
.Designated Zimmerman as purchasing agent for the school district
and
authorized his signature on purchase orders within the limits of
the
appropriations adopted by the board.
.Authorized Cramer to request
advances of property taxes from the Union
County Auditor for all amounts
available.
.Authorized Cramer to invest interim funds to the maximum benefit
of the
school district and to pay on a timely basis bills due and payable
for
goods, services and materials upon verification that the
proper
accounting criteria are satisfied and that the expenditure is
authorized
by the board and to submit a list of all payments to the board
monthly.
.Authorized the law firms of Means, Bichimer, Burkholder and
Baker
(Columbus) and Britton, Smith, Peters and Kalail (Cleveland) as
district
legal counsels for negotiations and matters not handled locally by
the
prosecuting attorney.
.Authorized the interim employment of personnel
prior to board approval.
.Authorized Zimmerman to accept resignations
which have been submitted
by employees during times when the board is not in
session.
.Designated Zimmerman as the suspension-hearing officer. In cases
where
the superintendent has issued a suspension or an expulsion, the board
of
education serves as the hearing officer.
.Designated the firm of CBIZ
Benefits and Insurance Services of Ohio
Inc. as needed for consultation on
matters pertaining to employee insurance.
.Approved memberships in the
OSBA, including subscriptions to
"Briefcase" and "Negotiator," the OSBA Legal
Assistance Fund, the Union
County Chamber of Commerce and the Metropolitan
Education Council (MEC).
.Agreed to pay the annual fees associated with
the filing of the
superintendent's and treasurer's ethics
reports.
.Designated Monday, Jan. 5 at 5:30 p.m. as the date and time of the
2009
organizational meeting at the administration office.
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chad@marysvillejt.com
