Explanation
BACKGROUND: Columbus City Council, by Ordinance No. 1356-2004, passed July 21, 2004, authorized the City to enter into an Enterprise Zone Agreement (the Agreement) with Unico Alloys and Metals (Enterprise) for a tax abatement of sixty percent (60%) for a period of six (6) years in consideration of a $400,000 investment in real property improvements, a $1.2 million investment in personal property, the retention of 26 permanent full-time jobs, and the creation of 14 permanent full-time jobs related to the relocation and expansion from their previous location at 1555 Joyce Avenue to 1177 Joyce Avenue, both located in Columbus, Ohio and within the City of Columbus Enterprise Zone. The Agreement was made and entered into to be effective August 2, 2005 (EZA# 023-05-08) and was subsequently authorized by Council to be amended for the first time by Ordinance Number 1025-2006, passed June 19, 2006, effective July 17, 2006, to modify the tax exemption window and was again subsequently authorized by Council to be amended for the second time by Ordinance Number 0614-2009, passed on May 11, 2009, effective January 1, 2009 that eliminated any and all language from the Agreement that pertained to personal property investment.
Following the most recent tax abatement reporting period which ended December 31, 2009 it was brought to the attention of the City by Enterprise that Enterprise had to the best of their knowledge not received any benefit from the tax abatement. Upon consultation with the office of the Franklin County Auditor it was confirmed that there would be no benefit to Enterprise as there was no increase in real property valuation from the project but that there was some possible personal property tax benefit for tax year 2008. Additionally, although Enterprise had filed their Form DTE-24 (the application for the abatement) in 2007, the abatement had yet to be granted by the State of Ohio. Subsequently, Enterprise provided a letter dated February 22...
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