Ohio County Wants 2nd TIF District Near The Highlands
Photo by Joselyn King Trending
WHEELING -- Ohio County commissioners took action this week to start the process of generating revenue to help develop properties adjacent to The Highlands development extending down to Middle Creek Road.
The commissioners, the Ohio County Development Authority and Regional Economic Development Partnership have been looking into creating a second, separate tax increment financing district in Ohio County adjacent to the one already existing at The Highlands development.
Commissioners this week passed a resolution to set a date for a public hearing to discuss the potential TIF district, then a second hearing to combine the new district with the existing district. The hearings have not yet been scheduled.
A TIF district is a designated area in which a portion of the property taxes paid by the businesses there is kicked back to a local government. The local government, in turn, is required to reinvest that money into further development in the TIF district with the purpose of growing more revenue.
County Administrator Randy Russell explained the proposed second district would stretch down the hill from The Highlands toward Interstate 70 West, creating a financing component for a potential second interchange there. But the new TIF District wouldn't stop at that point.
It would continue down the hillside toward Middle Creek Road, taking in the Millenium Center and Touchstone Research Laboratory on the east-bound side of the interstate, then over to the Maroon Farm. This would provide the opportunity for more investment and development by the county in the Middle Creek Road area.
A 30-day notice must be given of the public hearings before they take place.
After the public hearings, there will be further considerations by the commission to send the applications for the TIF district on to the State Department of Economic Development, explained Melissa Marco, project manager for Ohio County.
Once approved by the state, the matter would then return to the county commissioners, who would next need to take two actions to create the expanded TIF district. They would first need to approve the establishment of the new second TIF district, then pass a second motion to combine that district with the existing district, she said.
Commissioner Randy Wharton, also president of the OCDA, said the establishment of the extended TIF is "very important" in that it would enable the county to push out the expiration date on the existing TIF district. He wasn't certain when that expiration date is, but said it wasn't something that is coming up in the immediate future
"As we build the interchange, we will create building pads on the access road along the hillside," Wharton said. "Businesses that locate there will be taxed and pay property tax. We would get a portion of that, and the school district will get a portion through their levies."
He continued that TIF district agreements spell out specifically what the money generated can be used for, and that centers on expanded economic development in the district.
"It would have been difficult to do the things we have done at The Highlands already without TIF money," Wharton said.
Wharton said the county does not own property that would be incorporated within the new TIF district, but that RED does.
"Anything that generates revenue is important," added Commission President Don Nickerson. "Money is always an issue. We are always in need, and always trying to be careful."