HOWLAND Just yesterday, 21 News reported that three Trumbull County communities, including Howland and Warren Township, have approved a Joint Economic Development District (JEDD) with the Kimberly-Clark Company.

Under that JEDD, Howland Township and the City of Warren get 40% of the income tax revenue generated from the facility, and Warren Township gets the other 20%.

Normally under Ohio law, townships cannot collect income tax. However, Howland Township Administrator James Pantalone spoke with 21 News to explain why townships can collect it under a JEDD.

Pantalone explained that a JEDD allows townships to partner with cities in the income tax process. 

"Once a JEDD is formed amongst the communities and passed by their local legislation, it becomes its own entity, so it's an autonomous company that collects the income tax through the local city, and then it gets redistributed to each of the communities," Pantalone said.

Pantalone adds that the Ohio Revised Code allows each of the communities in the JEDD to appoint people to a board of directors that will oversee the JEDD. This board still operates under open-meeting laws and public records laws according to Pantalone.

"The JEDD is important for several reasons, but the primary reason is that it allows multiple communities, whether they be townships or municipalities, to come together in a collaborative effort to improve or bring in economic growth," Pantalone said.

Pantalone says a JEDD also allows communities in the JEDD to capture additional funding mechanisms.

"So it's a different way of getting communities to come together, putting us in a great position for economic growth and also positioning us to go after larger grants, because there's multiple jurisdictions and it's a larger collaboration," Pantalone said.

You can read more about Kimberly-Clark and the JEDD in our related coverage below.

RELATED COVERAGE: