Explanation
BACKGROUND: Columbus City Council (Council), by Ordinance 1372-2002, passed September 23, 2002, authorized the City of Columbus (City) to enter into an Enterprise Zone Agreement (the Agreement) with Columbus PaperBox (Enterprise) for a tax abatement of seventy-five percent (75%) for a period of ten (10) years in consideration of a $3,000,000 investment in real property improvements, an investment of up to $1,400,000 in personal property in the form of machinery and equipment and furniture and fixtures, and the relocation and retention of 30 full-time permanent jobs related to the construction of an approximately 50,000 square foot facility at 595 Van Buren Drive, parcel number 010-263052, in the West Edge Business Park, Columbus, Ohio and within the City of Columbus Enterprise Zone (Zone #023). The Agreement was made and entered into to be effective October 30, 2002 (EZA #023-02-05).
The Agreement was subsequently authorized by Council to be amended for the first time to eliminate part-time job language in the Agreement by Ordinance 1652-2007, passed November 12, 2007; and that this Agreement was subsequently authorized by Council to be amended for the second time to remove any and all language pertaining to personal property investment and tax abatements related to this personal property investment from the Agreement by Ordinance 0614-2009, passed May 11, 2009.
As per a Retention and Expansion visit conducted by City staff in April 2011, Enterprise indicated that the business was being dissolved due to poor economic conditions. According to Columbus PaperBox President Mr. William B. Reiber in a letter dated July 7, 2011, that effective April 15, 2011, Columbus PaperBox sold the folding carton portion of the operation. Unwanted machinery was to be liquidated and the building was to be sold and vacated. As such, the entity known as Columbus PaperBox and the project as described in the Agreement no longer exist and the Department of Development ...
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