Dear Editor,
I write in response to the April 21 article on the haggle with Union County over the Jerome Township CEDA and Tax Increment Financing.
The fight over control of tax dollars produced in Jerome Township only highlights a larger problem: our county government approval process is broken. County tax abatements are granted unfairly and inconsistently.
For instance, why is the county giving tax abatements to billion-dollar corporations like Amazon data centers, which produce very few jobs, when we have major road problems on Industrial Parkway?
After many years of traffic danger and full funding from FedEx, there is still no construction on the Mitchell-Dewitt intersection nor the Route 42/Industrial Parkway bottleneck.
The Weldon Road roundabout resulted in a lawsuit, which Union County lost.
Giving inconsistent tax abatements that gut the Tax Increment Financing fund shows the Union County system is broken.
In stark contrast, the Dewine/Husted administration has shown us how to do it statewide: attract profitable businesses and treat them fairly and respectfully. As a result, other counties in Ohio are profiting handsomely while Union County is growing despite itself.
Why does Union County make it so hard to create a public/private partnership?
John Wirchanski
Hall’s Corner land owner, Jerome Township