Explanation
BACKGROUND: This legislation authorizes the Director of Development to amend the City's Enterprise Zone Agreement (EZA) with The Trane Company ("Trane") and Millennium Court II LLC ("Millennium Court II"). The EZA was authorized by City Council in 2001 and was signed in 2002 by Trane, the anchor tenant, and Millennium Court II, the owner of the real property. The EZA granted a tax abatement of 50%/8-yrs (2003-2010) on real property and called for $5 million to be invested in the construction of a new facility and $1.729 million to be invested in new personal property. As of December 2004, the attained investment level was satisfactory for both real and personal property. Trane agreed to retain 103 existing jobs and to create 54 new jobs by the end of 2005. The company's business is heavily dependent on new non-residential construction and this market has contracted since 2001. Trane's employment has been decreasing since 2002 and as of July 2005 the retained jobs numbered 98 and zero (0) jobs had been created. The company expects that if current conditions persist it will be able to create only 5 jobs by the end of 2006. There is another tenant with jobs at the facility but this tenant does not wish to be added to the EZA. The Columbus Tax Incentive Review Council (TIRC) has recommended that the time allowed for the job creation be extended by two years to December 31, 2007 and that the length of the abatement be reduced by one year.
FISCAL IMPACT: No funding is required for this legislation.
Title
To authorize the Director of Development to amend the Enterprise Zone Agreement with The Trane Company and Millennium Court II LLC by extending the time for attaining the job creation to December 31, 2007 and reducing the length of the tax abatement by one (1) year; and to declare an emergency.
Body
WHEREAS, the Columbus City Council approved an Enterprise Zone Agreement with The Trane Company ("Trane ") and Millenniu...
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