House Bill (HB) 123 would change requirements for the state’s community reinvestment area (CRA) property tax abatement program, which is one of the state’s most-used incentives. See the Bill text, LSC Analysis and Fiscal Notes. The Senate Ways and Means Committee held a fifth hearing on this bill on April 5th.
To recap, HB 123
- Repeals annual reporting requirements, eliminating locally impacted boards of education from receiving reports on agreements that are in place during a given year
- Increases the threshold requiring board approval from 50% to 75% for a CRA property tax exemption for a commercial or industrial project.
- Increases the threshold from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 (indexed to inflation) to trigger the requirement that municipalities share municipal income tax revenue generated by new employees at a large CRA commercial or industrial project with the school district encompassing that project.
In addition to reaching out to your legislators, please continue to work with your city and county officials and economic development directors. It is important to remind them that school districts serve as a strong partner, highlighting the following:
- Strong schools means that your community can offer an effective workforce, attract new population, and provide a great quality of life.
- An ongoing supply of quality labor is one of the most critical elements in business attraction, even more important than incentives offered for the construction of a new building.
- The tax abatement process can be used to help companies see the school’s value and can even inform workforce and career development programs.
Thank you to the following members for submitting testimony on this bill:
- Douglas Beeman, Wadsworth City Schools
- Bill Blakely, Edgerton Local Schools
- Nick Ciarniello, Willoughby-Eastlake City Schools
- Todd Griffith, Licking Heights Local Schools,
- Todd Johnson, Marysville Exempted Village Schools.
- Donald Mook, Columbiana Exempted Village Schools
- Bill Wade, Mentor Public Schools
- William Volosin, Aurora City Schools