Explanation
BACKGROUND:The Economic Development Plan, resulting from the Rocky Fork-Blacklick Accord, was created to address public infrastructure needs in the affected planning area. The properties within the planning area have been targeted for development and public improvements will be necessary to ensure that development within the area is adequately served by utilities, roadways and other forms of infrastructure.
The City of Columbus desires to create Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Districts under Ohio Revised Code Sections 5709.40, 5709.42 and 5709.43 to pay for certain public infrastructure improvements and to otherwise support the Rocky Fork Blacklick Accord Economic Development Plan while protecting the Columbus City School District from any loss of tax revenues.
The payments in lieu of taxes provide for payment to the Columbus City School District for its portion of service payments, establishes the City Municipal Improvement Tax Equivalent fund for the deposit of the remainder of service payments and authorizes the Director of Development to execute one or more Tax Increment Financing and Development Agreements between the City of Columbus and developers or owners.
FISCAL IMPACT: No funding is required for this legislation.
Title
An Ordinance declaring improvements to certain parcels of real property within the Rocky Fork Blacklick Accord Economic Development Plan Area to be a public purpose, requiring the owners thereof to make service payments in lieu of taxes, providing for the payment to the Columbus City School District of its portion of those service payments, establishing a municipal public improvement tax equivalent fund for the deposit of the remainder of those service payments with the City and authorizing the Director of the Department of Development to execute one or more Tax Increment Financing and Development Agreement for infrastructure improvements to benefit the development of Rocky Fork Blacklick Accord Economic Development Plan Area; and to declare an emergency.
Body
WHEREAS, Section 5709.40(C) of the Ohio Revised Code ("R.C.") authorizes the legislative authority of a municipal corporation, by ordinance, to declare improvements to parcels of real property located in the municipal corporation, and which comprise an "incentive district", as that term is defined in R.C. Section 5709.40(A)(5), to be a public purpose; and
WHEREAS, the parcels of real property depicted and described in Exhibit A hereto (collectively, the "Property") are located in the State of Ohio, County of Franklin and City of Columbus (the "City"), with the boundaries of the Property as delineated on Exhibit A being the boundaries of the proposed incentive district; and
WHEREAS, the City finds that the Property does not contain more than three hundred acres and is enclosed by a continuous boundary; and
WHEREAS, it is anticipated by the City that the Property will undergo certain "improvements" (as defined in R.C. Section 5709.40(A)), including residential uses and other improvements which may be permitted from time to time under applicable zoning regulations (collectively, the "Project"); and
WHEREAS, the City, by and through the City Engineer's Office, and as required by R.C. Section 5709.40(A), finds that the Project may include residential real estate, and in order to declare such improvements to be a public purpose under R.C. Section 5709.40, public infrastructure must be inadequate to meet the development needs of the incentive district as evidenced by an economic development plan adopted by this Council; and
WHEREAS, an economic development plan for the area comprising the Property (the "Plan") was adopted by this Council by its passage on December 1, 2003 of its Ordinance No. 2534-2003; and
WHEREAS, the City Engineer has certified that the public infrastructure serving the proposed incentive district is inadequate to meet the development needs of the district as evidenced by and reflected in the Plan (the "Certificate"); and
WHEREAS, the City has determined that such proposed improvements to the Property are or, upon completion, will be a public purpose under R.C. Section 5709.40; and
WHEREAS, the City has determined that it is necessary and appropriate and in the best interest of the City to exempt the Property and proposed improvements from taxation as permitted and provided in R.C. Section 5709.40(C) and to simultaneously direct and require the current and future owner(s) of parcels of the Property and the Project thereon to make annual service payments in lieu of taxes to the Franklin County Treasurer on or before the final dates for payment of real property taxes; and
WHEREAS, R.C. Section 5709.43(A) requires a municipal corporation that grants a tax exemption under R.C. Section 5709.40(C) to establish a municipal public improvement tax increment equivalent fund, by ordinance of its legislative authority, into which the Franklin County Treasurer shall deposit such service payments in lieu of taxes to be received by the City and the City desires to establish that municipal public improvement tax increment equivalent fund to receive such service payments in lieu of taxes; and
WHEREAS, R.C. Section 5709.40(D) provides that an ordinance adopted by the legislative authority of a municipal corporation pursuant to R.C. Section 5709.40(B) shall designate specific public improvements made, to be made, or in the process of being made by the municipal corporation that directly benefit, or that once made will directly benefit, the parcels of real property located in the municipal corporation and identified in the ordinance; and
WHEREAS, attached hereto as Exhibit B is a description of public improvements for or on behalf of the City that directly benefit or, once made, will directly benefit the Property (collectively, the "Public Improvements"); and
WHEREAS, the City has determined that the proposed improvements to the Property shall, during construction and upon completion, place direct, additional demand on the Public Improvements or, to the extent the Public Improvements have not been constructed, will place direct, additional demand on the Public Improvements when completed; and
WHEREAS, R.C. Section 5709.40(C) requires the legislative authority of a municipal corporation to specify, in the ordinance adopted pursuant to R.C. Section 5709.40(C), the percentage of the proposed improvements to be exempted from taxation; and
WHEREAS, the City has determined that it is appropriate and in the best interest of the City to exempt 100% of the Property and the proposed improvements from taxation to the extent permitted by R.C. Section 5709.40; and
WHEREAS, the City has determined that payments in lieu of real property taxes provided for in R.C. Section 5709.42 shall be paid to the Columbus City School District (the "School District") in the amount of the real property taxes that the School District would have been paid if the Improvement had not been exempted from taxation pursuant to this Ordinance; and
WHEREAS, notice of this proposed Ordinance has been delivered to the Board of Education of the School District in accordance with and within the time period prescribed in R.C. Sections 5709.40(D)(2) and 5709.83; and
WHEREAS, the current and future owner(s) of the Property (each individually an "Owner" and collectively the "Owners"), contingent upon execution of a Tax Increment Financing Agreement with the City, (i) shall be required to make service payments in lieu of the real property tax payments they would have made except for the exemption provided by this Ordinance, (ii) shall prepare and file with the Franklin County Recorder a declaration against the Property which shall be covenants running with the Property and which shall require the current and future owner(s) to make those service payments in lieu of real property tax payments, and (iii) shall agree, pursuant to such declaration, that the service payments in lieu of real property taxes shall constitute a lien on the Property having the same priority and effect as the lien on real property taxes; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the Department of Development in that it is immediately necessary to create a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District under Ohio Revised Code Sections 5709.40, 5709.42 and 5709.43 to pay for certain public infrastructure improvements and to otherwise support the Rocky Fork Blacklick Accord Economic Development Plan, all for the preservation of the public health, peace, property, safety, and welfare NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
Section 1: That based on the Plan and the Certificate, the Property and Project qualify as an Incentive District as that term is defined in R.C. Section 5709.40(A)(5).
Section 2. In accordance with R.C. Section 5709.40, the City hereby finds and determines that the increase in the assessed value of the Property and the Project subsequent to the effective date of this Ordinance is and shall be a public purpose, which increase in assessed value is hereinafter referred to as the "Improvement," as defined in R.C. Section 5709.40(A).
Section 3. The City hereby exempts 100% of the Improvement from taxation (the "Exemption"), as and when the exemption is claimed and allowed in the manner provided by law, for the period set forth in this Ordinance.
Section 4. The City hereby directs and requires the current and future owner(s) of the Property to make annual service payments in lieu of real property taxes to the Franklin County Treasurer on or before the final dates for payment of real property taxes.
Section 5. The City hereby shall, contingent upon the execution of a Tax Increment Financing Agreement with an Owner as contemplated by Section 11 of this Ordinance, direct and require such Owner to prepare and file with the Franklin County Recorder a declaration against the Property which shall be covenants running with the Property and which shall: (i) require the current and future Owners of the Property to make service payments in lieu of the real property tax payment they would have made absent the exemption provided by this Ordinance, and (ii) make the current and future Owners acknowledge and agree that the service payments are payments in lieu of real property taxes and shall constitute a lien on the Property having the same priority and effect as the lien of real property taxes.
Section 6. In accordance with R.C. Sections 5709.40 and 5709.42 and this Ordinance, the Franklin County Treasurer shall make payments to the School District in lieu of the real property taxes it would have received in the amount of the real property taxes that the School District would have received if the Improvement had not been exempted from taxation pursuant to this Ordinance.
Section 7. The Public Improvements described in Exhibit B hereto made, to be made, or in the process of being made, by the City are hereby designated as Public Improvements that directly benefit, or that once made will directly benefit, the Property.
Section 8. The City hereby establishes a Municipal Public Improvement Tax Equivalent Fund (the "Special Fund") into which shall be deposited all of the service payments made in lieu of real property taxes to the Franklin County Treasurer and distributed to the City with respect to the Improvement and hereby provides that all such payments in lieu of taxes deposited or to be deposited into the Special Fund shall be used to pay costs of the Public Improvements as defined in R.C. Section 133.15(B). That portion of the payments in lieu of real property taxes to be paid to the School District pursuant to this Ordinance and R.C. Sections 5709.40 and 5709.42 shall be paid directly to the School District by the Franklin County Treasurer. Any expenditure of service payments deposited in the Special Fund is subject to the expenditure restrictions and appropriation requirements of Section 27 through 31 of the Charter of the City. The Special Fund shall remain in existence so long as such service payments are collected and used for the aforesaid purposes, except as provided in Section 9, after which the Fund shall be dissolved in accordance with R.C. Section 5709.43.
Section 9. The Exemption granted in this Ordinance shall commence on the Effective Date of this Ordinance shall end no later than 30 years from the Effective Date of this Ordinance, and the Incentive District shall exist for the term of the exemption.
Section 10. Pursuant to R.C. Section 5709.40(G), the City Clerk is hereby directed to deliver a copy of this Ordinance to the Director of Development of the State of Ohio within fifteen days after its effective date. Further, on or before March 31 of each year that the Exemption set forth in Section 3 hereof remains in effect as provided in Section 9 hereof, the City Clerk or other authorized officer of the City shall prepare and submit to the Director of Development of the State of Ohio the status report required under R.C. Section 5709.40(G).
Section 11. The City hereby authorizes the Director of the Department of Trade and Development to enter into a Tax Increment Financing Agreement with each Owner implementing this Ordinance.
Section 12. That for the reasons stated in the preamble thereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this ordinance is declared to be an emergency measure and shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval by the Mayor, or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.