July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Kirby, council question Portland plan (02/09/06)
Jay County Council
By By MARY ANN LEWIS-
Portland’s plan to implement a tax increment financing (TIF) district has some members of the Jay County Council upset.
“I’m really bothered with TIF,” council member Gerald Kirby told other members during Wednesday night’s county council meeting. “I told (Portland mayor) Bruce (Hosier) I don’t blame him for looking out for Portland, but we’ve got to look out for the county.”
Portland’s Council Monday night approved the second and final reading to establish a redevelopment commission that controls the TIF fund and guides officials on how the money will be used.
“It wouldn’t be so bad if we could see some figures,” Kirby said, “but no one has explained it to us (the council). I don’t blame him (Hosier), but I don’t like it. It’s been passed, passed, passed, but we’ve seen no figures.”
“In the long term sense, will it benefit the county?” council member Jack Houck asked.
“But they don’t even know how long it’s going to be,” Kirby said.
Kirby questioned council attorney George Lopez, about what the council could do.
“I’m not sure what your options are as a council,” he said.
“All I know is it behooves us to look out for the county,” Kirby said. “We gotta do something. As a board we need to take a position. They say ‘A rising tide rises all ships’ but it’s not going to happen here.”
In the TIF district, assessed valuation is frozen. One year later another assessed valuation is completed and the difference between the two is multiplied by the tax rate, city officials have explained.
After the redevelopment commission is created, a tax impact statement is prepared and distributed to all taxing entities.
“No one has explained this to us as a council,” Houck said.
In other business Wednesday night the council agreed to pass on to the tax abatement advisory board a request from Eric and Tyler Pursifull, 7772 South 1000 West, Redkey, in Richland Township on the construction of a 4,000 head finishing building. Cost of the project was set at $721,495. Pursifull said he hoped to have the building completed by April.
Jay County Development Corporation executive director, Bob Quadrozzi, presented the request to the council.
Concerning the abatement process, Quadrozzi told council members that beginning March 1 the tax abatement process would be put in the hands of county township assessors.
Final approval on abatements has belonged to state officials in the past, but that will change, Quadrozzi said.
“I have some concerns,” he said, “that’s quite an amount of work to be passed to township assessors.”
“If they’re not educated, the process will be overlooked,” Jay County auditor Freda Corwin said. “There are a lot of changes. We need to get together and discuss this with the tax advisory board and the assessors.”
“We want to make sure Jay County continues in the right direction,” Quadrozzi said. “The local tax abatement is the only incentive we have to offer.”
The council also approved tax abatement compliance statements from James A. Lochtefeld, 8521 East 700 South, Union City, who has a poultry barn in Madison Township; Eric Pursifull, 7772 South 1000 West, Redkey, who has two confined hog feeding operations; John H. Fennig, 7747 East 800 South, Portland, of Cross Roads Precision Tool who has a five-acre business sight; and from Edward M. Williams, 2584 South U.S. 27, Portland, who operates a warehouse for shipping of auto parts from a site on county road 400 South in Pike Township.
The council Wednesday night also heard Jay County Highway Superintendent Ken Wellman express concern about the low starting wage for truck drivers.
Wellman presented the council with figures he received from adjoining counties. The starting wage for Jay County drivers with a CDL license is $9.99, while Adams County offers $14.08 per hour, Wells County offers $14.61 per hour, Blackford County starts new drivers out at $14.46 per hour, Delaware County starts drivers out at $13.35, and Randolph offers $11.67 per hour.
He said he will be looking for a few more drivers in the next few months because current drivers will be retiring, and he would like to be able to make a better offer to attract better drivers.
Council president Marilyn Coleman reminded the council the county’s pay plan is up for review this year and those areas should be addressed.
“This is an ideal time to bring it up,” Coleman told Wellman. “We’ll look at it.”
“The best time is at a natural review,” Kirby said about increasing the pay, “rather than make an exception.”
The council Wednesday night also approved a line-item request from Jay County Assessor Anita Mills for $13,500 to purchase computer software to bring her office into compliance with the state’s personal property taxing process.
“Plexis was supposed to provide the software,” Coleman explained, “but Manatron bought Plexis and Manatron does not have that software.”
The new software will be compatible with that in the auditor’s office, Corwin assured.
Additionally the council approved several additional appropriations.
Jay County Sheriff Todd Penrod asked to take $3,075.98 from the county general fund and put it into the probation officer’s wages; put $4,189.34 into the communications officers wages; and $40 into the jail matron fund. He asked to take $1,771.42 from the sheriff’s drug free fund and put it into the sheriff deputy overtime fund.
Al Confer, a member of the Jay County Visitors and Tourism Bureau asked that $40,048.84 from the innkeeper’s tax fund be put into contractual services for the bureau.
“I was really skeptical about that at first,” Kirby said of funding the bureau, “but it has really paid off.”
The council also approved Superior Court Judge Joel Robert’s request to take $14,974.50 from the court assessment substance fund and put it into substance abuse program contract fund.
Also $214.21 was approved from the EMA CERT sub grant fund to equipment and $291.90 for miscellaneous which Ralph Frazee, director of Emergency Management asked be combined into the equipment fund.
Approved from the EMA comp planning grant fund to office equipment supplies, $219; to training, $69.45; to computer software, $58.88 and to equipment, $1,363.23, which again Frazee asked all those funds be put into equipment fund.
Also Penrod requested $1,562 be put into the sheriff’s deputy overtime from the Operation Pullover Grant fund.
The council approved appropriating $458.97 from the Homeland Security Fund into machinery and equipment and $509.14 from the court interpreter grant fund into court translation service.[[In-content Ad]]Officials of an Iowa-based ethanol company who are looking to expand into the area have 90 days to accept an incentive package offered by Jay County.
The Jay County Council Wednesday approved a package recommended by a 14-member advisory group.
Jay County Development Corporation executive director Bob Quadrozzi presented the proposed package to the council Wednesday night, noting that the package had previously been approved by Jay County Commissioners.
See Incentive page 6
Continued from page 1
According to the package’s recommendations, Cardinal Ethanol LLC now has 90 days to respond.
“They have 90 days from tomorrow’s date,” Quadrozzi said Wednesday night.
“We chose to get an advisory group and talk in private, unlike other counties,” Quadrozzi said, noting that some council members had also been a part of that group.
He explained that the state will not commit any funds to the project until a site has been selected for construction.
“We would recommend the same thing to any other group that would come in,” council member Gerald Kirby said about the deal.
The incentive package includes a maximum allowable local tax abatement, a five-year loan of up to $250,000 from county Economic Development Income Tax funds with collateral to be negotiated at the time of closing; up to $50,000 of EDIT funds to be made available to cover costs of any training not covered by state programs and documentation and reimbursement costs to be overseen by Quadrozzi, and local Jay County Development Corporation staff will provide economic development services to assist in accessing any state incentives.
Cardinal Ethanol executives have been meeting with officials in Jay, Randolph, and Delaware counties in the past few months to determine what site would best fit their needs and who could offer the best incentives.
In Jay County the plant may be located in the Redkey or Dunkirk area to provide access to railroads, Quadrozzi said, adding, “they favor the Dunkirk site.”
Approval by both the council and commissioners now puts Jay County in competition with Randolph County for the production facility. Officials in Randolph County recently approved providing a $10 million unsecured loan as well as $250,000 from EDIT funds to attract the facility.
“They can do one of three things,” Quadrozzi told commissioners Monday about presenting the incentive to the proposed developers. “They can refuse it, say ‘that’s fine,’ or say ‘here’s our counter offer.’”
“I’m really bothered with TIF,” council member Gerald Kirby told other members during Wednesday night’s county council meeting. “I told (Portland mayor) Bruce (Hosier) I don’t blame him for looking out for Portland, but we’ve got to look out for the county.”
Portland’s Council Monday night approved the second and final reading to establish a redevelopment commission that controls the TIF fund and guides officials on how the money will be used.
“It wouldn’t be so bad if we could see some figures,” Kirby said, “but no one has explained it to us (the council). I don’t blame him (Hosier), but I don’t like it. It’s been passed, passed, passed, but we’ve seen no figures.”
“In the long term sense, will it benefit the county?” council member Jack Houck asked.
“But they don’t even know how long it’s going to be,” Kirby said.
Kirby questioned council attorney George Lopez, about what the council could do.
“I’m not sure what your options are as a council,” he said.
“All I know is it behooves us to look out for the county,” Kirby said. “We gotta do something. As a board we need to take a position. They say ‘A rising tide rises all ships’ but it’s not going to happen here.”
In the TIF district, assessed valuation is frozen. One year later another assessed valuation is completed and the difference between the two is multiplied by the tax rate, city officials have explained.
After the redevelopment commission is created, a tax impact statement is prepared and distributed to all taxing entities.
“No one has explained this to us as a council,” Houck said.
In other business Wednesday night the council agreed to pass on to the tax abatement advisory board a request from Eric and Tyler Pursifull, 7772 South 1000 West, Redkey, in Richland Township on the construction of a 4,000 head finishing building. Cost of the project was set at $721,495. Pursifull said he hoped to have the building completed by April.
Jay County Development Corporation executive director, Bob Quadrozzi, presented the request to the council.
Concerning the abatement process, Quadrozzi told council members that beginning March 1 the tax abatement process would be put in the hands of county township assessors.
Final approval on abatements has belonged to state officials in the past, but that will change, Quadrozzi said.
“I have some concerns,” he said, “that’s quite an amount of work to be passed to township assessors.”
“If they’re not educated, the process will be overlooked,” Jay County auditor Freda Corwin said. “There are a lot of changes. We need to get together and discuss this with the tax advisory board and the assessors.”
“We want to make sure Jay County continues in the right direction,” Quadrozzi said. “The local tax abatement is the only incentive we have to offer.”
The council also approved tax abatement compliance statements from James A. Lochtefeld, 8521 East 700 South, Union City, who has a poultry barn in Madison Township; Eric Pursifull, 7772 South 1000 West, Redkey, who has two confined hog feeding operations; John H. Fennig, 7747 East 800 South, Portland, of Cross Roads Precision Tool who has a five-acre business sight; and from Edward M. Williams, 2584 South U.S. 27, Portland, who operates a warehouse for shipping of auto parts from a site on county road 400 South in Pike Township.
The council Wednesday night also heard Jay County Highway Superintendent Ken Wellman express concern about the low starting wage for truck drivers.
Wellman presented the council with figures he received from adjoining counties. The starting wage for Jay County drivers with a CDL license is $9.99, while Adams County offers $14.08 per hour, Wells County offers $14.61 per hour, Blackford County starts new drivers out at $14.46 per hour, Delaware County starts drivers out at $13.35, and Randolph offers $11.67 per hour.
He said he will be looking for a few more drivers in the next few months because current drivers will be retiring, and he would like to be able to make a better offer to attract better drivers.
Council president Marilyn Coleman reminded the council the county’s pay plan is up for review this year and those areas should be addressed.
“This is an ideal time to bring it up,” Coleman told Wellman. “We’ll look at it.”
“The best time is at a natural review,” Kirby said about increasing the pay, “rather than make an exception.”
The council Wednesday night also approved a line-item request from Jay County Assessor Anita Mills for $13,500 to purchase computer software to bring her office into compliance with the state’s personal property taxing process.
“Plexis was supposed to provide the software,” Coleman explained, “but Manatron bought Plexis and Manatron does not have that software.”
The new software will be compatible with that in the auditor’s office, Corwin assured.
Additionally the council approved several additional appropriations.
Jay County Sheriff Todd Penrod asked to take $3,075.98 from the county general fund and put it into the probation officer’s wages; put $4,189.34 into the communications officers wages; and $40 into the jail matron fund. He asked to take $1,771.42 from the sheriff’s drug free fund and put it into the sheriff deputy overtime fund.
Al Confer, a member of the Jay County Visitors and Tourism Bureau asked that $40,048.84 from the innkeeper’s tax fund be put into contractual services for the bureau.
“I was really skeptical about that at first,” Kirby said of funding the bureau, “but it has really paid off.”
The council also approved Superior Court Judge Joel Robert’s request to take $14,974.50 from the court assessment substance fund and put it into substance abuse program contract fund.
Also $214.21 was approved from the EMA CERT sub grant fund to equipment and $291.90 for miscellaneous which Ralph Frazee, director of Emergency Management asked be combined into the equipment fund.
Approved from the EMA comp planning grant fund to office equipment supplies, $219; to training, $69.45; to computer software, $58.88 and to equipment, $1,363.23, which again Frazee asked all those funds be put into equipment fund.
Also Penrod requested $1,562 be put into the sheriff’s deputy overtime from the Operation Pullover Grant fund.
The council approved appropriating $458.97 from the Homeland Security Fund into machinery and equipment and $509.14 from the court interpreter grant fund into court translation service.[[In-content Ad]]Officials of an Iowa-based ethanol company who are looking to expand into the area have 90 days to accept an incentive package offered by Jay County.
The Jay County Council Wednesday approved a package recommended by a 14-member advisory group.
Jay County Development Corporation executive director Bob Quadrozzi presented the proposed package to the council Wednesday night, noting that the package had previously been approved by Jay County Commissioners.
See Incentive page 6
Continued from page 1
According to the package’s recommendations, Cardinal Ethanol LLC now has 90 days to respond.
“They have 90 days from tomorrow’s date,” Quadrozzi said Wednesday night.
“We chose to get an advisory group and talk in private, unlike other counties,” Quadrozzi said, noting that some council members had also been a part of that group.
He explained that the state will not commit any funds to the project until a site has been selected for construction.
“We would recommend the same thing to any other group that would come in,” council member Gerald Kirby said about the deal.
The incentive package includes a maximum allowable local tax abatement, a five-year loan of up to $250,000 from county Economic Development Income Tax funds with collateral to be negotiated at the time of closing; up to $50,000 of EDIT funds to be made available to cover costs of any training not covered by state programs and documentation and reimbursement costs to be overseen by Quadrozzi, and local Jay County Development Corporation staff will provide economic development services to assist in accessing any state incentives.
Cardinal Ethanol executives have been meeting with officials in Jay, Randolph, and Delaware counties in the past few months to determine what site would best fit their needs and who could offer the best incentives.
In Jay County the plant may be located in the Redkey or Dunkirk area to provide access to railroads, Quadrozzi said, adding, “they favor the Dunkirk site.”
Approval by both the council and commissioners now puts Jay County in competition with Randolph County for the production facility. Officials in Randolph County recently approved providing a $10 million unsecured loan as well as $250,000 from EDIT funds to attract the facility.
“They can do one of three things,” Quadrozzi told commissioners Monday about presenting the incentive to the proposed developers. “They can refuse it, say ‘that’s fine,’ or say ‘here’s our counter offer.’”
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