County approves township tax abatements, continues state deregulation opposition

MEDINA — An annual stamp of approval from Medina County commissioners was granted this week to township businesses operating under continued Community Reinvestment Area tax abatements. Kathy Breitenbucher, economic developer for the Medina County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC), presented findings from recent meetings with those businesses. She said among those 36 companies, all but one have remained in business since last year and all remain in compliance with CRA commitments made in terms of investment and job creation. "The only problem our businesses are having right now is with personnel and finding new people," Breitenbucher said. "That's very exciting and encouraging to be coming out of COVID and already looking to hire. We're very encouraged by that." "Medina County takes it very seriously when time comes each year to look at these agreements," she added. "We meet with the company and get to talk to the ownership. We get to see what the result of the investment has been and the majority of our companies actually exceed their goals. Where they say they'll hire 10 people, they hire 15." Under Ohio Revised Code, Medina County is responsible for approval of township CRA agreements while responsibility for city and village deal finalization falls to those municipalities. Ohio's CRA program was created in the late 1960s as a housing program, but quickly became a frequently used provision in new commercial and industrial projects. In 1994, state lawmakers instituted numerous regulations and new oversight methods after determining the program was being abused in many instances. Those changes included commercial and industrial work needing a finished CRA agreement before construction, providing notice to and involvement of impacted school districts, and needed approval from the Ohio Development Services Agency. CRA agreements in Medina County townships finalized before 1994 have resulted in $235.6 million in investment and 2,174 jobs across 108 projects. Post-1994 agreements have added up to investment of $55.7 million, 16 projects and 456 jobs, Breitenbucher said. "We make sure we're offering agreements to the right kinds of companies," she said. "It ensures there's good growth and that we're keeping our good companies." Opposition to state deregulation MCEDC Executive Director Bethany Dentler spoke in Columbus on March 9 before the Statehouse Ways & Means Committee in opposition to House Bill 123. The measure would represent drastic deregulation in the CRA program and was introduced in February with state Reps. Mark Frazier, R-Newark, and Jon Cross, R-Kenton, signing on as primary sponsors. Specifics of the bill include: Removing the requirement that annual reports detailing CRA commercial and industrial projects be submitted to school districts. Increasing from 50 percent to 75 percent the percentage of a proposed CRA exemption for a commercial or industrial project that requires obtaining permission from a school district affected by any tax abatement. Reducing from five to two years wait periods at the end of a tax abatement that a business must remain in that same community paying a normal rate. Elimination of fees to local governments for administrative tasks of managing and ensuring compliance with the CRA program. Breitenbucher helped Dentler construct her statehouse testimony, which stated that "HB 123 encourages the creation of an uneven playing field. For those communities which choose to continue the responsible administration of CRA tax abatements by involving their school districts and holding companies accountable to a job creation commitment in their CRA agreements, they will be pitted against communities who throw caution to the wind and enact no standards in the cavalier distribution of valuable taxpayer dollars." Dentler also told lawmakers she feared HB 123 would damage what's seen in the program as a partnership between businesses and school districts. "Strong schools mean we can offer an effective workforce, attract new population and provide a great quality of life," she said. "We have seen business attraction deals that decided on our community based on the strength of our school systems. We use the tax abatement approval process to help companies see our partnership and engage with our schools from the very beginning. We have had a number of workforce and career development programs suggested to the schools through those meetings, and many companies have reported how much they appreciate the conversations." Medina County Commissioners wrote a letter earlier this month to Ways & Means Committee Chair Rep. Derek Merrin, R-Monclova Township, saying that passage of HB 123 would "foster local government behavior and tactics that are predatory and likely result in cannibalistic outcomes for local school district tax bases." The bill's lessening of job creation and job retention reporting from businesses and potential for various communities to "poach" businesses away from each other due to wait times going down from five years to two have drawn specific concern from Medina County Commissioner Steve Hambley. "There's been good response from some of the opponents down there," he said of talks in Columbus. "It seems like they want to get to a point where there's essentially no state oversight or uniformity of requirements. I think both of those are mistakes. There needs to be uniformity in terms of what you base a tax abatement on. One community could say it's about jobs and another could say, 'We just want you to have a building here.' That doesn't work." Hambley said one of HB 123's primary sponsors has agreed to meet with Dentler to hear a wide array of concerns, although a date for that talk is still to be determined. "Mark Frazier has reached out to Bethany and wants to talk to her," Hambley said. "I've talked to him and right now he's kind of hitting enough resistance to start these talks with the people who have concerns. Hopefully, we're going to see some significant changes." HB 123 remains in committee hearings with no defined timeline for a vote. Contact reporter Jonathan Delozier at (330)721-4050 or jdelozier@medina-gazette.com.