![]() The Champaign Economic Partnership (CEP) recently provided local government officials a free workshop, Tools for Successful Economic Development, about the variety of tax incentives available in Ohio to promote business development. Chris Schmenk, of counsel for Bricker and Eckler, LLP, and former director of the Ohio Development Services Agency, led the training at the Urbana office of Pioneer Electric Cooperative. City, village, township, county and school district officials attended. The economic development tools covered provide temporary tax exemptions in return for investing in business creation or expansion and retaining or creating jobs. CEP Director Marcia Bailey explained, “Tax incentives vary, but they typically exempt a portion of taxes on business improvements for a specific time, after which the business pays the full amount of the tax to support local government services and infrastructure. Tax incentives are designed to encourage business and job growth, which benefits Champaign County and local citizens.” Schmenk covered the following economic development tools: –Enterprise Zones (EZ), areas designated by municipalities and counties, in which businesses can be offered exemptions on real and personal property taxes for establishing, expanding, renovating or occupying a facility and creating or retaining jobs. –Community Reinvestment Areas (CRA), also established by municipalities and counties, in which real estate tax abatements may be offered for revitalizing existing business or residential properties or developing new structures. –Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Districts, which can be established by municipalities, counties and townships. Property owners may make payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) that go into a TIF fund that finances public and infrastructure improvements. –Joint Economic Development Districts (JEDD), special purpose districts created through a contract between a municipality and township to promote economic development and employment opportunities. JEDDs enable a district-wide income tax and provision of municipal services to unincorporated areas without annexation. –Downtown Redevelopment Districts, a new economic development tool for municipalities to promote redevelopment of designated areas that must include at least one historic building. These may include property tax exemptions related to redevelopment. ![]() In conjuction with Champaign, Clark, Logan, Madison and Union Counties, the Champaign Economic Partnership invites you to join us for a 5-county regional “Roll Out” Meeting for a 2017 Wage & Benefits Survey. Date: Thursday, January 19, 2017 Time: 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm Location: Urbana University Sara Landess Room (Student Center) 579 College Way Urbana, OH Are you staying competitive for your workforce? Would you like to know how you compare with other like businesses? We are looking for community employers that want a better understanding of the project and to learn more about how to use the data collected and apply it to our current workforce. Wendy C. Gradwohl, Ph.D., Associate Professor & Chair of the Department of Business, at Wittenberg University, will be heading up the survey and providing the data collected to the participating businesses by the 3rd quarter in 2017. Please RSVP your attendance by January 16 to: Champaign Economic Partnership (CEP) 3 Monument Square Urbana, OH 43078 (937) 653-7200 [email protected] Join us for breakfast to learn about the exciting initiatives Graham Local Schools, in partnership with Clark State Community College, the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce & CVB and the Champaign Economic Partnership, have created to provide you with a trained, skilled and ready workforce!
We value you as an industry partner, and we want to share with you the Career Gears and LEAN/Six Sigma training programs Superintendent Koennecke is implementing in Graham Local Schools. These programs are to ensure you have the skilled workforce needed to grow your business and our region, as well as, ensuring students are ready for successful careers. We want your opinion in making sure we are on the right track to make all of those things happen! When January 11, 2017 | 7:30 - 8:30 a.m. Breakfast begins at 7:30 a.m., program will begin at 7:45 a.m. Where Madison-Champaign ESC 2200 S. US Hwy 68 Urbana, OH 43078 ContactLesli Beavers Clark State Community College 937.431.7168 [email protected] FREE to attend | Registration is limited so register today! Register Now On Thursday, Jan. 5, at 1 p.m., the City of Urbana Community Development Office and the Champaign Economic Partnership will host a stakeholder meeting with downtown property owners, downtown business owners, and other interested parties. This meeting will be an opportunity to determine the feasibility and interest in applying for CDBG Downtown Revitalization Program funding through the Ohio Development Services Agency. Furthermore, this meeting will be held in the fire training room on the second floor of the Urbana Municipal Building, 205 S. Main St.
This grant program is competitive statewide, and projects funded through the program are designed to improve central business districts through targeted investment in facade improvements, remediation of building code violations and/or investment in streetscapes or other public infrastructure. At the present time, no specific projects have been identified that could benefit from this program. However, this meeting will be opportunity for all stakeholders to gauge interest in the program and to seek input on the feasibility and suitability of making an application to this program in 2017 or in the future. Please plan to attend and participate in this forum. If you have any questions or comments, please contact Doug Crabill, community development manager for the City of Urbana, by calling 652-4305, or Marcia Bailey, economic development director of the Champaign Economic Partnership, by calling 653-7200. Sincerely, Doug Crabill City of Urbana Community Development Manager; Marcia Bailey Economic Development Director of the Champaign Economic Partnership By Casey S. Elliott, Urbana Daily Citizen
[email protected] Navistar is seeking a tax abatement to create a new facility on Phoenix Drive which will consolidate operations and bring in new jobs. On Tuesday, Navistar Inc. and Damewood Enterprises filed a Community Reinvestment Act tax abatement request for a new warehousing facility at 915 Phoenix Drive. The abatement would need to be approved by both Urbana City Council and Urbana City Schools for it to move forward. The application asks for a 100 percent, 10-year tax abatement for 24 acres on the property, currently classified for agricultural use. The land is currently owned by Damewood Enterprises Limited. Navistar will lease operations on the property out of a new 355,522 square f! oot warehouse facility on the site. The new facility will allow Navistar to consolidate existing operations in Urbana and Xenia as part of a joint venture with General Motors, according to the tax abatement application. The new facility is estimated to cost $12 million to build and will house $16 million in inventory. An estimated 114 employees will be moved from Navistar’s existing Edgewood Avenue facility in Urbana to the new site. Approximately 27 employees will be moved from the Bellbrook Avenue, Xenia, Ohio, facility, and an estimated 39 full-time employees are predicted to be hired for the new warehouse, according to the application. Current estimated payroll at the Urbana site is $4.954 million; current payroll for the jobs moving to Urbana from Bellbrook is estimated at $1.263 million; and the company anticipates the new employees will have $572,000 in payroll; for a total of $6.789 million in payroll at the new site, according to the application. Champaign County Economic Development Director Marcia Bailey told the Urbana school board Tuesday the company is looking at other sites for this new facility, so she is hopeful the city and school board will approve the abatement to bring new construction and jobs to Champaign County. Bailey also brought the abatement request to city council for their consideration Tuesday night. "This is an opportunity for our growth, and not lose this to another community," Bailey told the school board. Urbana Schools Superintendent Charles Thiel said he thinks this might be good for the commun! ity and the schools. "In my mind, it makes sense," he said. City Council is expected to vote on the abatement at its Feb. 21, 2017 meeting. Thiel said the school board will discuss, and potentially take action on, the abatement at its January meeting. If approved, the project is estimated to begin construction in March 2017 and be completed in December 2017. Casey S. Elliott may be reached at 937-652-1331 ext. 1772 or on Twitter @UDCElliott.
Navistar announced a second deal with GM for a total of 600 new jobs and downtown Springfield has seen significant projects from a new brewery to artist studios and a new seniors center to EF Hutton America relocating its headquarters there. Local leaders also came together to form a nonprofit to target investments downtown.
“It’s changed the landscape of downtown,” Assistant City Manager Tom Franzen said. And in Champaign County, KTH Parts Inc. moved forward with a major expansion, one of several significant local projects in the auto manufacturing industry, and created a new economic development partnership.
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