Explanation
Background
City Council approved a tax increment financing program for the Easton area in 1996. Thereafter, Council expanded the TIF area in 2003; removed certain undeveloped parcels from the TIF area in 2014; and reconciled the TIF boundaries to account for certain parcel combinations and splits, resulting in the modern configuration of the TIF depicted on Exhibit A to Ordinance 2601-2020 (the “1996 Easton TIF”). The City and MORSO Holding Co. entered into a Reimbursement Agreement on August 4, 2008, as subsequently amended by a First Amendment to Reimbursement Agreement on November 14, 2012; a Second Amendment to Reimbursement Agreement on November 11, 2014; a Third Amendment To Reimbursement Agreement on December 11, 2017 (all four collectively, “the Reimbursement Agreement”), to provide funding for public infrastructure improvements necessary for the development of Easton and the surrounding area from the 1996 Easton TIF.
The General Assembly enacted Revised Code Section 5709.51 in 2019, which allows a municipal legislative authority to extend a TIF with service payments of at least $1.5 million in the immediately preceding calendar year for an additional 30 year period. The 1996 Easton TIF meets this threshold, and MORSO Holding Co. (the “Developer” named in the Reimbursement Agreement) in partnership with The Georgetown Company has requested that the 1996 Easton TIF be extended for an additional 30 year period (the “Extension Period”) in order to provide for the funding of additional public infrastructure necessary for the continued development of Easton. The Department of Development has submitted for City Council consideration Ordinance 2601-2020 to authorize a 30 year extension pursuant to O.R.C. § 5709.51.
In consideration of this extension, and in addition to the income tax benefits to the City and its residents that are generated by the jobs and economic activity generated by Easton, the Developer and Georgetown have offered the fol...
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