Board learns about reinvestment area

FORT RECOVERY — The village is considering establishing a Community Reinvestment Area.

School board members learned more about how they could be involved in the process Monday.

Community Reinvestment Area programs serve as a tax incentive for property owners to renovate existing structures or construct new buildings. Municipal and county governments may establish Community Reinvestment Areas to encourage economic development.

Fort Recovery Village Council is considering establishing the entire incorporated portion of the village as a Community Reinvestment Area. 

Fort Recovery assistant village administrator Aaron Rengers explained that, with the incentive in place, the village could offer tax exemptions at 75% or 100%, with the latter option requiring consent from Fort Recovery Local Schools, for projects such as residential home remodels, new home construction, commercial and industrial facility remodels and new commercial and industrial facility construction. (The village may allow the tax abatements to go for up to 15 years. A longer timeframe would also require approval from school board.)

A research committee created to explore the option has suggested 10-year abatements for new residential construction, 15-year abatements for home remodels and eight-year abatements for commercial and industrial remodels and new construction.

Answering a question from board member Sean Kahlig, Rengers explained qualifications for a remodel would include adding square footage to an existing structure.

Now that the village has completed a housing study, next steps will include drafting an ordinance.

Village administrator Randy Diller pointed to the housing shortage in Mercer County as well as the real estate tax burden.

“Any community will tell you that we’ve been looking at different situations, options, things that we can do to help spur some growth,” Diller said.

In the last five years, he continued, only five new houses have been built within village limits. He noted other communities are looking into creating Community Reinvestment Areas — according to Rengers, Coldwater has had one since before 1994 — as a potential solution.

Diller indicated significant growth in Bellefontaine, Ohio, and Sidney, Ohio, which he said both have Community Reinvestment Areas.

“You guys mentioned the goal to have spurred new development from a residential setting,” said Kahlig. “There’s not currently a lot of places for new development in town.”

Rengers noted there are opportunities to renovate homes or purchase property and demolish an existing home in order to build new. Diller pointed out the village is always on the look out for expansion possibilities and in the midst of discussions for potential growth. 

Rengers and Diller asked the school board to allow up to 100% tax abatements within the Community Reinvestment Area. Diller noted the village didn’t need a decision Monday. He and Rengers shared hopes for the Community Reinvestment Area to begin in January.

Diller also noted a couple school-related projects are still in the works.

A multi-use trail for pedestrian and bike traffic along Ohio 49, Sharpsburg Road and Flaler Road is planned to begin construction in summer 2026. The project is 90% funded through Ohio Department of Transportation’s Systemic Safety Funding grant, with the village’s estimated match at $200,000.

An additional 625 feet of sidewalk, which will run along the east side of Fort Recovery Elementary/Middle School and connect with Sharpsburg Road, should be completed in summer 2027. The project will be paid for using Safe Routes to School funding.

Also Monday, Diller briefed school board members on plans to increase the village’s income tax levy from 1% to 1.5%. Village council approved legislation on a third reading Monday to place the decision on the ballot in November.

In other business, school board members Mitch Fullenkamp, Sean Kahlig, Nick Wehrkamp and Don Wendel, absent Greg LeFevre:

•Heard an update from athletic director Aimee Pottkotter. She explained athletic participation numbers increased more than 4.5% in the middle school and more than 3% in the high school. Among other highlights, she noted 45 students received All-Midwest Athletic Conference honors, five students received all-district honors and one student earned all-state honors.

•Recognized Anna Roessner for her track and field career, which included medaling in the 100, 200 and 400 dashes at the OHSAA Division III state meet. She set the state record for Division III in the 100 dash at 11.75 seconds and earned the state title. She also finished as the state runner-up in the 200 dash and placed third in the 400 dash.

•Approved the following for the upcoming school year: hiring various substitutes on an as-needed basis; the athletic handbook; hiring volunteer junior high football coach Logan Homan; a contract with fifth grade chair Jocelyn Meyer; and a personal services contract with Stacy Laux for up to 80 hours at $24 per hour through Dec. 31 (Laux is resigning from her role as office assistant and transportation coordinator effective July 31).

•OK’s a 60-month lease with Modern Office Methods for the school’s copier services, an approximately $1,300 increase in cost from the current provider.

•Authorized school officials to enter into food procurement contracts exceeding $15,000 through the consortium bid process and to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with Fort Recovery Education Association for Article XII compensation, with the latter adding Fort Recovery’s bowling coaches into the athletics salary schedule. (Fort Recovery School Board recently designated the former club sport as a full-fledged sport.)

•Set elementary and middle school student fees for the upcoming school year. Fees changed slightly from last year, with the largest change being a $5 increase in fees for sixth through eighth grade students. Fees are as follows: $20 for preschool, $57.85 for kindergarten and first grade, $59.35 for second grade, $59.55 for third grade, $51.60 for fourth grade, $74.30 for fifth grade and $66 for sixth, seventh and eighth grade.

•Approved a resolution declaring school board authorizes Southwestern Ohio Educational Purchasing Council to advertise and receive bids on the board’s behalf for the cooperative purchase of school buses and other vehicles, materials and supplies offered through the Educational Purchasing Council’s consortium. 

•Designated LeFevre as school board’s delegate to the Capital Conference and Mitch Fullenkamp as the alternate.

•Gave permission to use $2,078 in credit card rewards for school purchases.

•Accepted a $50 anonymous donation to the choir program.